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AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



jforcipism, Humanism, anb ^ugns Jltmotnun, 



IN THE LIGHT OF 



REASON, HISTORY, AND SCRIPTURE ; 



IN WHICH 



CERTAIN DEMAGOGUES IN TENNESSEE, AND ELSEWHERE, 
ARE SHOWN UP IN THEIR TRUE COLORS. 



WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW, 

EDITOR OF "BROWNLOW'S KN'OXVILLK WHICJ." 



" Go to your bloody rites again: 

Preach— perpetuate damnation in your den; 

Then let your altars, ye blasphemers, peal 

With thanks to Heaven, that let you loose again, 

To practice deeds with torturing firo and steel, 

No eye may search, no tongue may challenge or reveal!" 

Thomas Campbell. 



NasljMUe, (tan. : 
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR 

1856. 



.3 3<« 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW, 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. 



judication. 

TO THE YOUNG MEN OF AMERICA. 



Young Gentlemen : — Almighty God has conferred on you the 
peculiar honor and the eminent responsibility of preserving and 
perpetuating the liberties of this country, both civil and religious. 
That the American people are on the eve of an eventful period, 
will not be doubted by any sane man, who can discern the " signs 
of the times." Indeed, it is an every-day remark, that, as a nation, 
we are in the midst of a crisis. If, however, a crisis ever did exist 
in the affairs of this Nation, since its independence was first 
achieved, which called upon the native and legal voters of the 
country to watch with sleepless vigilance over their blood-bought 
liberties, that crisis must be dated in the year of our Lord, ONE 
THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX! The 
great Commonwealth of Humanity, in behalf of the momentous 
interests of Truth, Liberty, and Religion, calls upon the present 
generation of Young Men, who will have the issues of a coming 
revolution to meet, to qualify themselves for the task. 

There never was a time known, since the dark days of the Revolu- 
tion, when the civil and religious liberties of this country were so 
much endangered as at the present time. This danger we are 
threatened with from Foreign influence, and the rapid strides 
of Romanism, to which we may add Native treachery, connived at, 
as they are, by certain leading demagogues of the country, and a 
powerful and influential political party, falsely called Democrats, 



4 DEDICATION. 

who seek the Foreign and Catholic vote, and are willing to obtain 
it at the expense of Liberty, and the sacrifice of the Protestant 
Religion ! 

The great criminal of the nineteenth century, the Papal Hier- 
a im'II v, is now on trial before the bar of public opinion, having 
been arraigned by the American Party. You are called on to 
decide, Young Men, as you wield the balance of power, whether 
this Criminal, arraigned for treason against God, and hostility to 
the human race, deserves the execrations of all honest and patriotic 
men, ami avenging judgments of a righteous God! In order to 
decide this grave question, Young Gentlemen of the Nineteenth 
< ' a hi r ii, you are to consider the inevitable tendency of the prin- 
ciples of the Church of Rome — the actual results of these tenden- 
cies as embodied in history — the indictment brought in by the 
American Party, and the testimony of the witnesses. When you 
have intelligently considered the part the self-styled Democratic 
Party has acted in this infamous drama, you will feel it to be your 
duty to indict the corporation claiming the right to be called the 
Great Democratic Party, as accessory to the treason, crimes, and 
infamy, of the aforesaid Papal Hierarchy ! 

To you, then, Gentlemen, is this brief work most affectionately 
inscribed by 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



For the last twenty-five years, the writer of this work lias em- 
ployed much of his time in the reading and study of the controversy 
between Roman Catholics and Protestants. And those who have 
been subscribers to the paper he has edited and published for the 
LAST seventeen years, will bear him witness that he has kept up 
a fierce and unceasing fire against that dangerous and immoral 
Corporation, claiming the right to be called the Holy Catholic 
Church. This he has done, and still continues to do, because he 
believes firmly that the system of Popery, as taught in the stand- 
ards of the Church of Rome, as enforced by her Bishops and 
Priests, and as believed and practised by the great body of 
Romanists, both in Europe and America, is at war with the true 
religion taught in the Bible, and is injurious to the public and 
private morals of the civilized world ; and, if unchecked, will over- 
turn the civil and religious liberties of the United States. Such, 
he believes, is its tendency and the design of its leaders. 

Popery is deceitful in its character ; and the design of this brief 
work is, in part, to drag it forward into the light of the middle of 
the nineteenth century, to strip the flimsy vizor oif its face, and to 
bring it, with all its abuses, corruptions, and hypocritical Protestant 
advocates, before the bar of enlightened public opinion, for judg- 
ment in the case. Roman Catholics misrepresent their own creed, 
their Church, and its corrupt institutions. The most revolting, 
wicked, and immoral features of their Itobj and immutable system, 
are kept out of sight by its corrupt Clergy, and Jesuitical teachers ; 
while, with a purpose to deceive, a Protestant sense is attached to 
most of their doctrines and peculiarities. By this vile means, they 
designedly misrepresent themselves, and impose on the public, by 



G PREFACE. 

inducing charitable and uninformed persons to believe that they are 
not as profligate as they are represented to be. This game has 
been played with a bold hand in Knoxville, for the last twelve 
months, and it is being played in every city and town in the South 
and West, where Romanism is being planted. One object, then, of 
this epitomized work, setting forth the boastings, threats, and dis- 
closures of leading Catholic organs and Bishops, as to their real 
principles and designs upon this country, suffered to go forth in 
their more excited moments, or unguarded hours, is, to spread 
before the people, in a cheap form, true Popery, and to strip it of 
Protestant garb, which it has for the time being assumed. 

An additional reason for bringing out this publication, at this 
particular time, is, to expose a corrupt bargain entered into by the 
leaders of the Catholic Church, and the leaders of a corrupt and 
designing political party, falsely called the Democratic party. One 
of the most alarming "signs of the times" is, that while Protestant 
ministers, of different persuasions, only two brief years ago, could 
preach with power and eloquence against the dogmas and corrupt- 
ing tendencies of Romanism, and pass out of the doors of their 
churches, receiving the compliments and extravagant praises of 
their entire congregations, let one of them now dare to hold up this 
Corporation as a dangerous foreign enemy — let him warn his charge 
against the influence of Popery, or but only designate the Catholic 
Hierarchy as the "man of sin" described in the Scriptures, and 
one half of his congregation arc grossly insulted: they charge him 
with meddling in politics ; and, by way of resentment, they will 
either not hear him again, or they will starve him out, by refusing 
to contribute to his support! 

The hypocritical and profligate portion of the Methodist, Pres- 
byterian, Baptist, and Episcopal membership in this country, are 
not so much misled by Popery, as they are influenced by party 
politics, and are in love with the loose moral code of Romanism. It 
lays no restraints on their lusts, and gives a loose rein to all their 
ansanctified passions and desires. Backslidden, unconverted, or 
unprincipled members of Protestant Churches, find in Popery a 
sympathizing irreligion, adapted to their vicious lives; and hence 
they fall in with its disgusting superstitions and insulting claims. 
They are, therefore, ensnared with the delusions of Popery, of 



PREFACE. ( 

choice. In other words, Popery is a system of mere human policy ; 
altogether of Foreign origin; Foreign in its support; importing 
Foreign vassals ami paupers by multiplied thousands; and sending 
into every State and Territory in this Union, a most baneful 
Foreign and anti-Republican influence. Its old goutified, immoral, 
and drunken Pope, his Bishops and Priests, are politicians : men 
of the world, earthly, sensual, and devilish, and mere men of 
pleasure. Associated with them for the purpose, in great State and 
National contests, of securing the Catholic vote, arc the worst 
class of American politicians, designing demagogues, selfish office- 
seekers, and bad men, calling themselves Democrats and " Old-Line 
Whigs !" These politicians know that Popery, as a system, is in 
the hands of a Foreign despotism, precisely what the Koran is in 
the hands of the Grand Turk and his partisans. But corrupt and 
ambitious politicians in this country, are willing to act the part of 
traitors to our laws and Constitution, for the sake of profitable 
offices ; and they are willing to sacrifice the Protestant Religion, on 
the ancient and profligate altar at Rome, if they may but rise to 
distinction on its ruins ! 

The great Democratic party of this country, which has degene- 
rated into a Semi-Pajyal Organization, for the base purposes of 
power and plunder, now fully partakes of the intolerant spirit of 
Rome, and is acting it out in all the departments of our State and 
General Governments. What Romanism has been to the Old 
World, this Papal and Anti- American organization seeks and pro- 
mises to be to this country. What is Popery in Roman Catholic 
Europe ? It is as intolerant in politics as in religion : it taxes and 
oppresses the subjects and citizens of every country ; it interdicts 
nations ; dethrones governors, chief magistrates, and kings ; dis- 
solves civil governments ; suspends commerce ; annuls civil laws ; 
and, to gratify its unsanctified lust of ambition, it has overrun whole 
nations with bloodshed, and thrown them into confusion. So it is 
with this "Bogus" Democracy: it wages a war of extermination 
against the freedom of the press, and against the liberty of speech, 
the rights of human conscience, and the liberties of man : hence its 
indiscriminate proscription of all who dare to unite with the Ameri- 
can Party, or openly espouse their cause. Popery aims at uni- 
versal power over the bodies and souls of all men ; and history 



8 PREFACE. 

proclaims that its weapons have been dungeons, racks, chains, fire, 
and Bword ! The bastard Democracy of the present age has united 
with the Prelates, Priests, Monks, and Nuns of Romanism, and is 
daily affiliating with hundreds of thousands of the very off-scour- 
ings of the European Catholic population — stimulating them to 
deeds of violence, and to the shedding of blood ! To-day, they 
sustain a Bake?- in the foul murder of a Poole, in New York, 
In cause he was a member of the so-called Know-Nothing party, 
which had just routed, in an election, this Foreign Loco-foco party ! 
To-morrow, we find this same vile party, its editors and orators, 
sustaining a Foreign Catholic Mob in Louisville, Ky. ; and the 
members of the same party, in surrounding States, exulting over the 
murder of Protestant Americans ! And in the next breath, as it 
were, we find these sons of Belial, falsely called Democrats, after 
reaching the power they lusted after in Philadelphia, sending up 
shouts over the lawless deeds of a Foreign Catholic riot, which 
made the ears of every American citizen to tingle ! 

Under the guidance of an All-wise Providence, the Protector 
of our Republic, and of the Protestant Religion, it is in the power 
of the free and independent voters of these United States to cause 
this enemy's long " arm to be clean dried up, and his right eye to 
he utterly darkened," by elevating to the two first offices within the 
gift of the world, Millard Fillmore and Andrew J. Donelson ! 

I am, candid Reader, your fellow-citizen, 

W. G. BROWNLOW. 

Kni'.witxe, July, 1856. 



AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



Jforeigmsw, |iom;uusm, ani '§ogus Jcmotracg. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, 

The Creed of the American Party — The Platform misrepresented by Mr. Wat- 
kins — Official Vote on the adoption of the new Platform — What the Aboli- 
tionists and Democrats say of the Platform — Scceders from the Nominating 
Convention, and their Address. 

Lord Byron, just as the war of Greece approached, said: "It 
is not one man, nor a million, but the spirit of liberty which must 
be spread;" and, carrying out the same bold idea of liberty, he 
continues, "It is time to act;" or, in the language of the Know 
Nothing salutation, " It is time for work ;" for " what signifies self, 
if a single spark of that genius of liberty worthy of the past, can 
be bequeathed unquenchably to the future?" In the language of 
a fair poetess : 

" Our country is a whole, 

Of which we all are parts ; nor should a citizen 
Regard his interests as distinct from hers : 
No hopes or fears should touch his patriot soul, 
But what affects her honor or her shame." 

The civilization — the nationality — the institutions, civil and reli- 
gious — and the mission of the United States, are all eminently 
American. Mental light and personal independence, constitutional 
union, national supremacy, submission to law and rules of order, 
homogeneous population, and instinctive patriotism, are all vital 
elements of American liberty, nationality, and upward and onward 
progress. Foreign immigration, foreign Catholic influence, and 
sectional factions nourished by them — and breeding demagogues in 



10 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

the Dame of Democracy, by a prostitution of the elective franchise 
— have already corrupted our nationality, degraded our councils, 
both State and National, weakened the bonds of union, disturbed 
our country's peace, and awakened apprehensions of insecurity and 
/ deterioration, threatening ultimate ruin! To rescue 
and restore American institutions — to maintain American nation- 
ality, and to secure American birthrights, is the mission and the 
sole purpose of the American Party — composed of conservative, 
patriotic, Protestant, Union-loving, native-born citizens of every 
section, and of every Christian denomination — self-sacrificing pa- 
triots, who prefer their countiy, and the religion of their fathers, 
and of the Bible, to a factious name, a plundering political organ- 
ization, and an infamous Papal hierarchy! 

The paramount and ultimate object of our American Organiza- 
tion is to save and exalt the Union, and to preserve and perpetu- 
ate the rights and blessings of the Protestant religion. We contend 
that American principles should mould American policy; that 
American mind should rule American destiny ; that all sectional 
parties, such as a party North, or a party South, should be re- 
nounced ; that all sectional agitations, such as are kept up by Abo- 
1 i t ii mists, Free Soilers, and Black Republicans, should be resisted; 
that Congress should never agitate the subject of domestic slavery, 
in any form or for any purpose, but leave it where the Constitution 
fixes it ; that as the destiny of the country depends on the mind of 
the country, intelligence should rule ; that the ballot-box should be 
purified, and corrupt Romanism and foreign influence checked ; 
that any allegiance "to any foreign prince, potentate, or power" — 
to any power, regal or pontifical, should be rebuked as the most 
fatal canker of the germ of American independence; that every 
citizen should be encouraged to exercise freely his own conscience; 
and that the popular mind should be enlightened, and the popular 
heart rectified, by proper and universal Christian education. This 
is the essence of the American creed; and when methodized into a 
Political Decalogue, it constitutes the Ten Commandments of the 
American party. 

!n this connection, and at this point, we will give the much- 
abused Platform of the American party, adopted at the session of 
the National Council, February 21, 1856. Examine the Plat- 
form, and answer to your conscience the cpuestion: What true 
Am. riran head can disapprove — what pure American heart can 
revolt? Can men taking their stand on this Platform be the ene- 
mies of civil and religious liberties? Can either civil or religious 
liberties rest secure on any other grounds? And must not those 
"' Bi gus" Democrats ami Anti-Americans, therefore, who wage war 
against this citadel of American birthrights, act as enemies to the 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 11 

Federal Constitution, enemies bo the Union, to the mental inde- 
pendence of American citizene — enemies to the Protestant religion, 
and enemies, consequently, "to civil and religions liberty?" 

TLATFORM OF THE AMERICAN PARTY. 

1st. An humble acknowledgment to the Supreme Being for his protecting 
care vouchsafed to our fathers in their successful Revolutionary struggle, nee 
hitherto manifested to us, their descendants, in the preservation of the liber- 
ties, the independence, and the union of these States. 

2d. The perpetuation of the Federal Qnion, as the palladium of our civil 
and religious liberties, and the pnly sure bulwark of American Independence. 

3d. Americans must rule Arnerica, and to this end, native-bora citizens 
should be selected for all State, Federal, and municipal offices, or government 
employment, in preference to all others: nevertheless, 

4th. Persons born of American parents residing temporarily abroad, should 
be entitled to all the rights of native-born citizens ; but, 

5th. No person should be selected for political station, (whether of native 
or foreign birth,) who recognizes any allegiance or obligation of any descrip- 
tion, to any foreign prince, potentate, or power, or who refuses to recognize 
the Federal and State constitutions (each within its sphere) as paramount to 
all other laws, as rules of political action. 

6th. The unqualified recognition and maintenance of the reserved rights of 
the several Stale-, and the cultivation of harmony and fraternal good-will 
between the citizens of the several States; and to this end, non-interference by 
Congress with questions appertaining solely to the individual States, and non- 
intervention by each State with the affairs of any other State. 

7th. The recognition of the right of the native-born and naturalized citizens 
of the United States, permanently residing in any Territory thereof, to frame 
their constitution and laws, and to regulate their domestic and social affairs 
in their own mode, subject only to the provisions of the Federal Constitution, 
with the privilege of admission into the Union whenever they have the requi- 
site population for one Representative in Congress. Provided always; that 
none but those who are citizens of the United States, under the constitution 
and laws thereof, and who have a fixed residence in any such Territory, ought 
to participate in the formation of the constitution, or in the enactment of laws 
for said Territory or State. 

8th. An enforcement of the principle that no State or Territory ought to 
admit others than citizens of the United States to the right of suffrage, or of 
holding political office. 

9th. A change in the laws of naturalization, making a continued residence 
of twenty-one years, of all not hereinbefore provided for, an indispensable 
requisite tor citizenship hereafter, and excluding all paupers, and persons con- 
victed of crime, from landing upon our shores ; but no interference with the 
rested rights of foreigners. 

10th. Opposition to any union between Church and State: no interference 
with religious faith or worship, and no test-oaths for office. 

11th. Free and thorough investigation into any and all alleged abuses of 
public functionaries, and a strict economy in public expenditures. 

12th. The maintenance and enforcement of all laws constitutionally enacted, 
until said laws shall he repealed, or shall be declared null and void by com- 
petent judicial authority. 

13th. Opposition to the reckless and unwise policy of the present adminis- 
tration in the general management of our national affairs, and more especially 
as shown in removing "Americans" (by designation) and conservatives in 



12 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

principle, from office, and placing foreigners and ultraists in their places: as 
shown in a truckling subserviency to the stronger, and an insolent and cowardly 
bravado toward the weaker powers: as shown in reopening sectional agita- 
tion, by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise: as shown in granting to un- 
naturalized foreigners the right of suffrage in Kansas and Nebraska : as shown 
in its vacillating course on the Kansas and Nebraska question : as shown in 
Th«> corruptions which pervade some of the departments of the_ government : 
OS shown in disgracing meritorious naval officers through prejudice or caprice; 
and as shown in the blundering mismanagement of our foreign relations. 

14th. Therefore, to remedy existing evils, and prevent the disastrous conse- 
quences otherwise resulting therefrom, we would build up the "American 
party" upon the principles hereinbefore stated. 

luh. That each State Council shall have authority to amend their several 
; tutions, so as to abolish the several degrees, and institute a pledge of 
honor, instead of other obligations, for fellowship and admission into the 
party. 

loth. A free and open discussion of all political principles embraced in our 
platform. 

The Hon. Mr. Watkins, a renegade from the American ranks, 
in East Tennessee, delivered a speech in Congress on the 6th of 
May, 1856; which, speech we find reported in the Washington 
Union — a speech which betrays an utter ignorance of the point he 
undertook to discuss. It is due to his betrayed constituents that 
we should expose his ignorance, and the blundering fallacy of his 
attempts to justify his turning Loeofoco Cataline Judas Sag-Nicht! 
He says, as reported by his political organ-grinder : 

" But, sir, the platform recently adopted by the Philadelphia Convention 
cannot receive my approbation. I cannot support Mr. Fillmore, or any other 
distinguished Whig, upon that platform. The only solitary plank in the 
Philadelphia platform of June, 1855, was the twelfth section — that section 
which denied to Congress the right to interfere with slavery in the Terri- 
tories, declaring the doctrine of non-intervention, and of popular sovereignty 
in the Territories. But, sir, that plank in the platform was stricken out by 
the convention recently held, and the sixth resolution of the platform then 
adopted substituted in its place. And what does that resolution endorse? Is 
there any non-intervention in the sixth resolution of the Philadelphia plat- 
form ? Is there any denial of the right of Congress to interfere upon the sub- 
ject of slavery in the sixth resolution of the Philadelphia platform? Certainly 
not.'' 

In lieu of the June platform, we have this February platform. 
Tlic .June platform contained no such denial to Congress, as is here 
alleged by Mr. Watkins, of the right to interfere with slavery in 
the Territories! And it is marvellous, indeed, that a grave Mem- 
ber of Congress should undertake to discuss Platforms, which he 
had cither never read, or the purport of which, if he had ever read 
them, he had either wholly forgotten, or lacked the sense to com- 
prehend ! The twelfth section of the June Platform says: 

"And expressly pretermitting » it;/ rxpression of opinion upon the power of 
to establish or prohibit slavery in auy Territory, it is the sense of 



WITH FOREIfSNIS.M. 13 

this National Council, that Congress ovght wot to legislate apon the Bubjeel 
of slavery within the Territories of the United States. 

Thus, instead of denying to Congress the right to interfere with 
slavery in the Territories, as erroneously and recklessly charged 
by this new-born Democrat, al] opinion on that subject was " ex- 
pressly 'pretermitted" in the June Platform ! Mr. Watkins was in 
such a hurry to join the Forney, Pierce, ami Catholic Democracy, 
that he did not stop to examine even the Platform which most dis- 
gusted him! But this is not the worst blunder which lie com- 
mitted in that speech. He turned to the new Platform, and asked, 
with an air of triumph : 

"Is there any non-intervention in the sixth resolution of the (new) Phila- 
delphia platform? Is there any denial of the right of Congress to interfere 
with the subject of slavery in the sixth resolution of the (new) Philadelphia 
platform?" 

And he answers, " Certainly not!" The ignorant man, it would 
seem, only read as far as to the sixth section of the new Platform ; 
and even that section contains a direct affirmative answer to his 
question ; which, in order to place the American party in a false- 
position, he answers, " Certainly not!" 

Now, we ask such as may have noticed his misrepresentations, 
to read a little further on, at least to the end of the 7th section of 
this new Platform, and see where it leaves Mr. Watkins ! Turn 
back to the 7th section, and it will be seen that this section, 
instead of " pretermitting any opinion" on the question, announces 
the doctrine that the citizens of the United States permanently 
residing in the Territories, have a " right" to frame their Constitu- 
tion and laws, and to regulate their domestic affairs in their own 
mode, subject only to the provisions of the Federal Constitution ! 

The Neiv York Evening Post, a Pierce and foreign Democratic 
organ, thus alludes to the action of the Convention which nomi- 
nated Fillmore and Donelson : — 

"The 12th section of the June Platform, it is true, had been abrogated; 
BUT IT HAD BEEN REPLACED BY ANOTHER, MEANING PRE- 
CISELY THE SAME THING!" 

The Cincinnati Gazette, an Abolition, Anti-American Foreign 
sheet, came out in opposition to the American nominees, in its 
issue of Feb. 29th, 1856, on account of the Pro-slavery character 
of the new Platform. The Gazette says : — 

"We are glad that the action of the Convention proved so decided as to leave 
no doubt as to the character of the Platform. The latter is clearly and 
decidedly Pro-slavery and Nebraska,' «W in this respect correspond* pre- 
cisely with the principles of the Pierce DeHOOBACT ! Filhnorc aiift Doneuoti 

are therefore presented to the American people as candidates for the Presi- 



14 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

denoy and Vice Presidency, ON A THOROUGH AND DECIDED NE- 
BRASKA PRO-SLAVERY PLATFORM, and the citizens of Northern 
States are asked to vote for them I" 

The New York Tribune, whose editor was a prominent member 
of the Pittsburgh Black Republican Convention, and who is violent 
in his opposition to Fillmore and Donelson, says : 

"The object of the Know Nothings has dwindled down to this — TO DE- 
FEAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ! That is to say, this is the object of 
those who have managed the Philadelphia Convention, and nominated Mr. 
Fillmore. I have diligently inquired for a member who voted for Bunks for 
Speaker, and now supports Ftlkndre ; but up to this time — more than thi-ee 
days after the nomination — I have not heard of one. That sort must be 
scarce !" 

The following is the official vote on the adoption of the new 
Platform by the National Council, which met four days previous to 
the Nominating Convention : 

New Hampshire — Nays — Messrs. Colby and Emery. 

Massachusetts — Yeas — Messrs. Ely, Weith, Brewster, Robinson, and Ar- 
nold. Nays — Messrs. Richmond, Wheelwright, Temple, Thurston, Sumner, 
Allen, Sawin, and Hawkes. 

Connecticut — Nays — Messrs. Sperry, Dunbar, Peck, Booth, Holley, and 
Perkins. 

Rhode Island — Yeas — Messrs. Chase and Knight. Nays — Messrs. Simons 
and Nightingale. 

New York — Yeas — Messrs. Walker, Oakley, Morgan, Woodward, Reynolds, 
Chester, Owens, Sanders, Whiston, Nichols, Van Dusen, Westbrook, Parsons, 
Picket, Campbell, Lowell, Sammons, Oakes, Seymour, Squire, Cooper, Burr, 
Bennett, Marvine, Midler, Stephens, Johnson, Wetmore, Hammond, and S. 
Seymour. Nay — Mr. Barker. 

Delaware — Yeas — Messrs. Clement and Smithers. 

Maryland — Yeas — Messrs. Codet, Alexander, Winchester, Stephens, and 
Wilmot. Nays — Messrs. Purnell, Ricaud, Pinkney, and Kramer. 

Virginia — Nays — Messrs. Boiling, McHugh, Cochran, Boteler, Preston, 
and Maupin. 

Florida — Yea — Mr. Call. 

New Jersey — Yeas — Messrs. Deshler, Weeks, Lyon, and McClellan. 

Pennsylvania — Yeas — Messrs. Freeman, Nelclede, Gossler, Smith, Gillin- 
ham, Hammond, Wood, Gilford, Pyle, Farrand, and Williamson. Nays — 
Messrs. Johnson, SewelL Jones, Parker, Heistand, Kase, Kinkaid, Coffee, 
Carlisle, Crovode, Edie, Sewell, and Power. 

Louisiana — Yeas — Messrs. Lathrop and Elam. Nays — Messrs. Harman 
and Hardy. 

California — Yeas — Messrs. Wood and Stanley. 

Arkansas — Yea — Mr. Logan. Nay — Mr. Fowler. 

Tennessee — Yeas — Messrs. Brownlow, Bankhead, Zollicoffer, Burton, 
Campbell, Donelson, Harris, Bilbo, and Beloat. Nays — Messrs. Nelson, 
Reedy, and Picket. 

Kentucky — Yeas— Messrs. Stowers, Campbell, Raphael, Todd, Clay, Good- 
loe, ami Bartlett. Nays — Messrs. Shanklm, Jones, Carpenter, Gist, and 
[Jnderwood. 

< >ii 10 — Yeas — Messrs. White, Nash, Simpson, and Lippett. Nays — Messrs. 
Gabriel, Olds, Ford, Barker, Potter, Stanbaugh, Rodgers, Spooner, Hodges, 



wrTII FOBEieKISM. 15 

Kyle, Lees, Swigart, Allison, Fishback, Thomas, Oorwine, Ghapman, Ayres, 
and Johnson. 

Indian-a — Vcas — Messrs. Sheets and Phelps. Nay— Mr. Meredith. 

Missouri — Yeas- — Messrs. Edward, Fletcher, and Hockaday. Nay — Mr. 
Breckenridge. 

Mien i can — Y<r — Mr. Wood. 

Wisconsin — Yeas- Messrs. Lookwood, Oook, Chandler, and Gillies. 

District of Coltthbia — Yeas — Messrs. Ellis and Evans. 

Illinois — Teas — Messrs. Danenhower and Allen. Nays — Messrs. Jennings 

and (lear. 

l"» \ — Nays — Messrs. Webster and Thoriington. 
Teas — 108. Nays — 77. 

We will close this chapter by giving the delegates who seceded 
from the Nominating Convention, with the Address published by 
them on the occasion. That secession was a more inconsiderable 
affair than has been represented by the foreign party of this 
country. The author of this work was the Chairman of the large 
Committee on Credentials, and reported two hundred and 
seventy-seven delegates, which report was received without oppo- 
sition, as to numbers. Of these, forty-two only seceded, viz. : 13 
out of 28 from Ohio; one of two from New Hampshire; 6 — all — 
from Connecticut ; 2 out of 13 from Massachusetts ; one out of 3 
from Illinois ; 7 out of 27 from Pennsylvania ; one out of 4 from 
Rhode Island ; 5 — all — from Michigan ; 5 — all — from Wisconsin ; 
one — all — from Iowa : 42 out of 277 — not a sixth, and but little 
over a seventh of the whole ! 

ADDRESS. 

The seceders or "bolters" made the following address, to which 
they appended their States and names. What they say of the 
Louisiana delegates, we have explained in another portion of this 
work : 

"The undersigned, delegates to the nominating Convention now in session 
at Philadelphia, find themselves compelled to dissent from the principles 
avowed by that body; and holding opinions, as they d<>, that the restoration of 
the Missouri Compromise, as demanded by a majority of the whole people, is 
a redress of an undeniable wrong, and the execution of it, in spirit at least, 
indispensable to the repose of the country, they have regarded the refusal 
of that Convention to recognize the well-defined opinion of the country, and of 
the Americans of the free States, upon this question, as a denial of their rights 
and a rebuke to their sentiments ; and they hold that the admission into the 
National Council and nominating Convention, of delegates from Louisiana, 
representing a Roman Catholic Constituency, absolved every true American 
from all obligations to sustain the action of either of the said bodies. 

"They have therefore withdrawn from the nominating Convention, refusing 
to participate in the proposed nomination, and now address themselves to the 
Americans of the country, and especially of the States they represent, to jus- 
tify and approve of their action ; and to the end that a nomination conforming 
to the overruling sentiment of the country in the great issue may be regularly 



It) AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

and auspiciously made, the undersigned propose to the Americans in all the 
States to assemble in their several State organizations, and elect delegates to 
a Convention to meet in the city of New York, on Thursday, the 12th day of 
June next, for the purpose of nominating candidates for President and Vice 
President of the United States." 

Ohio— Thos. II. Ford, J. II. Baker, B. S. Kyle, W. H. C. Mitchell, E. T. 
Sturtevant, 0. T. Fishback, Jacob Ebbert, Win. B. Allison, H. C. Hodges, L. 
II. Olds, W. B. Chapman, Thos. McYees, Charles Nichols. 

New Hampshire — Anthony Colby. 

Connecticut — Lucius G. Peck, Jas. E. Dunham, Hezekiah Griswold, Austin 
Baldwin, Edmund Perkins, David Booth. 

Massachusetts — Wild. S. Thurston, Z. R. Pangborn. 

Illinois — Henry S. Jennings. 

Pennsylvania— Wm. F. Johnston, S. C. Kase, R. M. Riddle, T. J. Coffey, 
John Williamson, J. Harrison, S. Ewell. 

Rhode Island — E. J. Nightingale. 

Micuican— S. T. Lyon, W. Fuller, W. S. Wood, P. P. Meddler, J. Hamilton. 

Wim onsin — D. A. Gillis, John Lockwood, Robt. Chandler, G. Burdick, C. 
W. Cook. 

Iowa — L. H. Webster. 



WITH FOKEKJNISM. 17 



THE ELECTION OF BANKS— THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 

One of the issues in the Presidential contest now going on, is 
the slavery question. A. 0. P. X. Y. Z. Nicholson, of the Washing- 
ton Union, who canvassed this State in opposition to Scott, and shed 
his crocodile tears before every crowd he addressed, because so good 
a man as Fillmore, who had stood firm for the rights of the South, 
had been set aside by an ungrateful Convention at Baltimore, to 
give place to Scott, the favorite of Seward — this miserable hypo- 
crite, we say, now comes out and says, " Fillmore's abolitionism will 
suit the North." 

The Central Democratic Committee for East Tennessee, in a call 
for a District Convention at Clinton, in May last, through the 
Knoxville Standard, conclude said call in this language : 

" The time has again arrived when the national Democracy must rally to 
their country's call and preserve the Constitution as it is in its purity, and per- 
petuate the union of the States from the ruin which the Black Republican 
Party of the North, aided by THEIR KNOW-NOTHING ALLIES OF THE 
SOUTH, would bring upon them. By order of the 

" CENTRAL COMMITTEE." 

The Sag-Nicht Convention held at Somerville, on Thursday the 
8th of May, and which selected D. M. Currin as their Electoral 
candidate, adopted the following resolution : 

" Resolved, That we have been appointed by the Democracy of this Electoral 
District to organize to fight, in the coming Presidential election, the Black Re- 
publicans and Know-Nothings. Resolved, That we can beat them, and we 
will do it. Resolved, That we will cordially receive the co-operation of all 
Old-Line Whigs who will assist us in carrying out these resolutions." 

Now, the charge is here made that the Know-Nothings of the 
South are the allies of the Black Republicans of the North. This 
is the impression intended to be made, first by these concealed ca- 
lumniators at Knoxville, and afterwards by the open and avowed 
slanderers of the same party at Somerville ! With such wholesale 
lying as is displayed in both of these cases, we have but little 
patience : we only give their language, to show their recklessness 
in making such an issue. And although this Foreign party claim 
to be the guardians of Southern interests, we propose to show, 
before we conclude this chapter, that they are themselves the " allies 
2 



18 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

of the Black Republicans of the North," and are giving them more 
"aid and comfort" than all the other parties in the country ! 

FRANCIS P. BLAIR, former editor of Gen. Jackson's organ 
at Washington, was the President of the Black Republican Con- 
vention at Pittsburg, in February last ! John M. Niles, Demo- 
cratic Senator in Congress, was President of the Black Republican 
Convention held in Connecticut ! In the Pittsburg Convention, 
over which Blair presided, PRESTON KING, ABIJAH MANN, 
DAVID WILMOT, and JACOB BRINKERHOFF, Old-Line 
Democrats, figured conspicuously. 

For two long and cold winter months, the Democrats, both North 
and South, voted for Richardson, of Illinois, for Speaker, a violent 
anti-slavery man, whose speeches against slavery, and in favor of 
Abolitionism, were matters of record in the Congressional Globe, 
and were delivered on the floor of Congress so late as 1850 ! The 
immortal 75 Democrats did not cease to vote for this man Rich- 
ardson, until Gen. Zollicoffer, of Tennessee, read his speeches 
upon him, in the presence of his friends ! 

On the 2d of February, SAMUEL A. SMITH, of Tennessee, a 
Democratic Representative in Congress, renewed his motion to 
adopt the plurality rule. His proposition, which it was evident 
would elect Banks, was carried by Black Republican votes, who 
went for it in a body. This would still not have elected Banks, 
but for the fact that the following Democrats voted for the odious 
plurality rule : Clingman, Herbert, Hickman, Jeiaett, Kelley, Bar- 
clay, Bayard, Wells, Williams, and Samuel A. Smith ! Mr. 
Clarke was the only American who voted for the odious rule ! 

Mr. Carlile, a national American, of Virginia, before the vote 
was taken upon this plurality rule, offered the following substitute 
for it : 

" Resolved, That the Hon. Wm. Aiken, a Representative from the State of 
South Carolina, be, and he is hereby declared Speaker of the Thirty-Fourth 
Congress." 

Gov. Aiken is a sound Southern Democrat — never was any 
thing else — but Col. Smith objected, and demanded the previous 
question, which cut off Mr. Carlile's resolution, and which was 
to prevent its adoption ! The candidate of the Democratic party, 
at that time, Mr. Orr, immediately withdrew in favor of Gov. 
Aiken, upon the introduction of Mr. Carlile's resolution; and 
to prevent Aiken s election, SAMUEL A. SMITH cutoff said reso- 
lution by a call of the previous question ! 

Banks was elected by one vote, and this could not be accom- 
plished until SEVEN DEMOCRATS got behind the bar, and 
refused to vote at all ! These were HICKMAN, PARKER, and 
BARCLAY, of Pennsylvania; CRAIG, of North Carolina; 



WITH FOREIGNTSM. 19 

TAYLOR, of Louisiana; UK'Il A IIDSON, of Illinois; and 
SEWARD, of Georgia! Any two of these Southern Democrats 
could have made Aiken Speaker, hut they did not want him — they 
knew Banks to be a Democrat, if he were a Black Republican — 
and to elect him, they believed would give them the strength of that 
odious party in the coming contest. 

We have before us the Washington Union of Sept. 27th, 1853, 
giving, editorially, a glowing account of the Massachusetts Demo- 
cratic State Convention, reporting the speech of Nathaniel P. 
Banks, of Waltham, concluding that report in these words : 

"Mr. Banks emphatically and decidedly, on his own part, and on that of 
the Democrats of Massachusetts, disclaimed the truth of the rumors in certain 
newspapers that an arrangement had been entered into with another political 
party in the Commonwealth concerning the distribution of State offices. It 
was his and this Convention's and all true Democrats' desire, belief, and 
determination, that Henry W. Bishop should be elected governor of Massa- 
chusetts, and that the other Democratic State officers Should also be elected. 
He was not afraid of defeat, and less afraid of Whig success, which, to judge 
by its recent effects, was simply equivalent to a defeat. [Applause.]" 

It may be said, and doubtless will be, that Banks has allied him- 
self with the Republicans. But Banks says he has always been a 
Democrat, and that he was nominated as a Democrat in his dis- 
trict. And certain it is, that he was elected Speaker by DEMO- 
CRATS, under the compulsion of an odious plurality rule, and the 
gag of the previous question ! 

It will be said, and said truthfully too, that SIX AMERICANS 
FROM THE NORTH voted for Mr. Fuller, of Pennsylvania. 
So they did ; and in doing so, they voted for a sound national and 
conservative man. But did this justify Southern Democrats in 
dodging the question, and thereby electing a Black Republican 
Speaker ? Gov. Aiken was the candidate of the seven Democrats — 
he was not the candidate of the six Americans ! Democracy, 
moreover, had refused to vote for an American under any circum- 
stances, and had, on the first day of the meeting of Congress, 
passed a resolution insulting the whole American party, in caucus ! 
We would have seen them banished to the farthest verge of astro- 
nomical imagination, before we would have voted for any man that 
favored that insulting resolution ! 

In 1847, by a unanimous vote, both branches of the Legislature 
of New Hampshire adopted resolutions denunciatory of the insti- 
tution of slavery, and approving of the Wilmot Proviso. These 
resolutions were reported to the House, by the Representative from 
Hillsboro, the native town of Gen. Pierce, and were in the hand- 
ivriting of Pierce ! 

On the 2d of October, 1847, the Democratic Soft-Shells, who 
are now the supporters of Pierce's administration, and fill the offices 



20 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

he has to dispose of in New York, held a State Convention, and 
declared their " uncompromising hostility to slavery" in a string 
of resolutions they adopted and ordered to he published. 

On the 16th of February, 1848, a Democratic State Convention 
for New York convened at Utica, to appoint Delegates to the 
National Convention to nominate candidates for President and Vice 
President, at which a string of anti-Southern resolutions were 
adopted, denouncing " slavery or involuntary servitude ," as repug- 
nant to the genius of Republicanism. 

On the 18th of July, 1848, the Democratic Soft-Shells held a 
mass-meeting in the park of New York, and, by way of making 
perfect their organization against General Cass, declared, by reso- 
lutions, their " uncompromising hostility to slavery or involuntary 
servitude !" 

On the 13th of September, 1848, a Democratic mass-meeting 
convened at Buffalo, in New York, and, in a general Abolition jubi- 
lee, adopted resolutions condemning and denouncing the institution 
of slavery ! 

In 1852, while the contest was going on between Pierce and 
Scott, the Washington Union said, editorially: 

"THE FREE-SOIL DEMOCRATIC LEADERS OF THE NORTH, 
ARE A REGULAR PORTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY; AND 
tiKNERAL PIERCE, IF ELECTED, WILL MAKE NO DISTINCTION 
BETWEEN THEM AND THE REST OF THE DEMOCRACY IN THE 
DISTRIBUTION OF OFFICIAL PATRONAGE, AND IN THE SELEC- 
TION OF AGENTS FOR ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT!" 

The Black Republicans recently held a meeting in New York, 
at which Benjamin F. Butler, of "pious memory," and Van 
Buren Swartwout notoriety, presided ! On his right hand sat, as 
Vice President of the meeting, Moses If. Grinnell, one of the 
Democratic " pipe-layers" of 1840, whom this Van Buren Attorney- 
General Butler made efforts to send to the State prison ! Another 
Vice President, gravely looking on, and arranged in dignified 
grandeur upon the stand, was John W. Edmonds, ex-" blanket 
contractor" in a large swindle, and a practical spiritual- rapper ! A 
third and last Vice President was the notorious Br. Townsend, 
the sarsaparilla man, who has not yet wound up his controversy 
with a man of the same name, as to who is the greatest rascal in 
the way of manufacturing this medicine ! 

Among the other officers, secretaries, and prominent men in the 
meeting, was C. A. Bana, of the Tribune office, a Fourierist, who, 
at a public meeting on a former occasion, toasted " Horace Greeley, 
Charles Fourier, and Jesus Christ!" Prominent in the meeting 
was 0. A. Stetson, of the Astor House, an Amalgamationist. 
Henry J. Raymond, the Abolition editor of the Times, and 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 21 

Rudolph Gfarr/)/ui\ a noisy German Abolitionist, looked and acted 
as though they believed the salvation of the Union depended upon 
the success of the Republicans ! A fellow who made frequent 
motions, an Irishman by the name of McMorroiv, had served an 
apprenticeship of twelve months in the State prison, for breaking 
open a store after night ! The principal speaker, who spoke for 
two hours on the subject of slavery, was the notorious Bingham, 
an itinerant Abolitionist from Ohio. It was a queer medley of 
men, parties, principles, and characters — two-thirds of all the 
active partisans in the meeting having held offices in the ranks of 
Democracy ! And still, that party boasts of its Northern wing 
being sound upon the slavery question. 

And here is the resolution of the 8th of January Democratic 
Convention in Ohio, appointing delegates to the Cincinnati Pow- 
wow : 

" Resolved, That the people of Ohio now, as they have always done, look 
upon slavery as an evil, ami unfavorable to the development of the spirit and 
practical benefits of free institutions; and that, entertaining those sentiments, 
they will at all times feel it to be their duty to use all power clearly given by 
the terms of the national compact, to prevent its increase, to mitigate, and 
finally eradicate the evil." 

To show, just here, where Tennessee Democrats stand upon the 
infamous Wilmot Proviso question, we give the following extract 
from a recent number of the Nashville Patriot : 

JAMES K. POLK, 

who, in 1847, approved the Oregon bill, which contained this odious and un- 
constitutional clause : next in order is 

CAVE JOHNSON, 
now President of the Bank of Tennessee, who voted for the same bill which 
Mr. Polk sanctioned : next we have 

AARON V. BROWN, 

an aspirant before the Cincinnati Convention, who did likewise : then comes 

JULIUS W. BLACKWELL, 

a star whose light has been quenched in obscurity, but who voted with his 
colleagues for the Oregon bill in '47 : next in the procession of Southern men 
"dangerous to the South" is 

BARCLAY MARTIN, 

President Pierce's U. S. Mail Agent, who cast a similar vote: following him 
we have 

LUCIEN B. CHASE, 

author of the History of the Polk Administration, at present a resident of 
New York city, but at the time he exhibited himself as " a dangerous man 
to the South," a representative in Congress from this State : he is succeeded 

by 

FRED. P. STANTON, 

for ten years a Democratic Congressman from the Memphis district: he voted 



22 AME1UCANISM CONTRASTED 

for the Oregon bill, with the Wilmot Proviso annexed: behind him in the 

march is .„ 

ALVAN CULLOM, 

a Democratic Congressman, who has squatted on the other side of one of his 
native mountains in the fourth district, and been quiescent for some years: 
he was one of the Tennessee " dangerous men:" he voted twice for the Wilmot 
Proviso: in the same category is 

GEORGE W. JONES, 
in the language of another, the "goose which cackles at the door of the Trea- 
sury vault:" notorious as a Southern supporter of the Squatter Sovereignty 
doctrine, with two votes on record in favor of the Wilmot Proviso. He may 
be reckoned as very " dangerous to the South :" last, but not least in this 
dread array of "dangerous men," is 

ANDREW JOHNSON, 
the present Governor of Tennessee, and Cincinnati aspirant: he voted three 
times fWr the Wilmot Proviso, and so doubtful are his doctrines on the slavery 
question, that many slaveholding members of his own party regard him as 
extremely " dangerous to the South." 

By the way, in 1842, this same Gov. Johnson was a Senator in 
our State Legislature, and introduced the following Abolition reso- 
lutions, commonly called his White Basis System : 

" Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the 
basis to bo observed in laying the State off into Congressional districts shall 
be the voting population, without any regard to three-fifths of the negro 

POPULATION. 

"Resolved, That the 120,083 qualified voters shall be divided by eleven, 
and that each eleventh of the 120,083 of qualified voters shall be entitled to 
elect one member in the Congress of the United States, or so near as may be 
practicable without a division of counties." 

The position of Gov. Johnson is this : he wishes the State entitled 
to her slave representation as a State, but in her own borders the 
representative districts are to be made according to her white popu- 
lation ! In other words, he desires the State to retain her ten 
Congressmen, representing both her white and slave population, 
but wishes them appointed throughout the State without regard to 
the slave population : so that the county containing ten thousand 
white inhabitants, and double that number of slaves, should be 
entitled to no more representation than the county containing ten 
thousand white inhabitants and no slaves ! 

We heard Johnson last summer, in his debate with Gentry, in 
Campbell county, contend that the county of Campbell should have 
the same representation in Congress as the county of Shelby, 
winch lie stated had FIFTEEN THOUSAND NEGROES ! He 
appealed to the prejudices and passions of the poor — inquired of 
the hard working-men of that county how they liked to see their 
wives ami daughters offset, in enumerating the strength of the 
county, by the "greasy negro wenches of Shelby, Davidson, Fay- 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 23 

ette, Sumner and Rutherford counties." lie made a real, stirring 
abolition appeal to the poor, and non-slaveholding portion of the 
crowd, which was in the proportion of ten to one of that county, to 
array them against the rich, and especially against the owners of 
large numbers of slaves. He told them thai these Negro wenches 
belonged to the lordly slaveholders of Middle and West Tennessee, 
and that as our Constitution now is, these wenches were placed on 
an equality with the fair daughters and virtuous wives of laboring 
men. On this ground he advocated his infamous amendment to 
the Constitution, which would incorporate his "White Basis" 
scheme ! 

This is a rank Abolition measure, and fraught with more danger 
to the South than any thing proposed by the whole brood of Aboli- 
tionists, Free Soilers, and Black Republicans at the North. Al- 
ready the South is weak enough, and not at all able to vote with the 
North in our National Legislature. The effect of this scheme is to 
deprive the South of one-third of her strength in Congress. Not 
only is this the effect, but it is the design of the mover. We hold 
that Johnson is a Free Soiler, and has been for years. It is stated 
by his Northern Democratic friends, that when he quit Congress, 
he came home to run for Governor — with a determination, if defeated, 
to remove to some of the Northwestern States, and take a new 
start ! Had he been defeated by Maj. Henry in 1853, he would 
now be a Black Republican in one of the Free States, running for 
office ! And yet the propagator of this infamous Abolition doctrine 
of a "White Basis" representation — this demagogue who arrays 
the poor against slaveholders, is the man for the ultra guardians 
of the slave interests of the South ! A man who would not own 
negroes when he could, but loaned his money out at interest, and 
left his wife and daughters to do their own work — a man who is at 
heart and in his doctrines a rank Free Soiler — a man who has 
only remained in the South to experiment upon office-seeking ! 
This is the man that Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, and 
Carolinas, rejoiced to see elected Governor of a Southern slave 
State ! 

It was seeing the position of Johnson on this question that 
induced the ll Democratic Herald" in Ohio, in June, 1855, thus to 
notice our race for Governor : 

" Tennessee. — An animated contest is going on in this good old Democratic 
State for Governor, and the largest crowds flock to hear the candidates that 
ever attended political meetings since the Hero of New Orleans used to 
address the masses in person. The present incumbent, Andrew Johnson, is 
the Democratic candidate, and a Mr. Gantry, a pro-slavery renegade from the 
Federal Whig ranks, is the opposing candidate, brought out by a Know 
Nothing conclave. This man is on the stump abusing tbe Catholics, and 
denouncing them for their tyranny, while he openly advocates the slavery 
doctrines of Southern Nigrierdom! On the other hand, his competitor, Gov. 



24 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Johnson, •well and favorably known to our leading Democrats of Ohio, HAS 
NO SYMPATHIES WITH SLAVERY, and is the advocate of such arnend- 
mente to the Federal Constitution as will give all power to the people, and 
EFFECTUALLY PUT DOWN THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY!" 

Now, this showing up of Democracy, on the Slavery question, 
may look shabby to many ultra Southern men, and it may induce 
them to charge that the Democratic party are inconsistent. We 
defend them against the charge of inconsistency, and maintain that 
what would be called inconsistency here, is nothing but Democracy. 
For instance, A. 0. P. Q. X. Y. Z. Nicholson, the editor of the 
great official organ of Democracy at Washington, said, editorially, 
and " by authority," so late as 1855 : 

" IT IS NO PART OF THE CREED OF A DEMOCRAT, AS SUCH, TO 
ADVOCATE OR OPPOSE THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY. HE MAY 
DO THE ONE OR THE OTHER, IN THE EXERCISE OF HIS RIGHTS 
AS A CITIZEN, AND NOT OFFEND AGAINST HIS DEMOCRATIC 
FEALTY!" 

Precisely so ! A man may advocate the abolition of slavery 
where it exists ; he may, as a Black Republican, arm himself with 
Sharpe's rifle, and go into Kansas, and shoot down pro-slavery 
men, and still be a consistent Democrat, if he vote for the party, 
and stand by the nominees of the party conventions ! Hence, all 
the factions at home and from abroad — all religions — all the ends 
and odds of God's creation are now associated together, and are 
battling in the same unholy cause, in the name of Democracy I 

And further to exhibit the inconsistency of this Democratic and 
Foreign party, it will be recollected that, in 1844, they nominated 
Silas Wright, of New York, for Vice-President, to run on the 
ticket with Col. Polk — a position he declined, because he would 
not agree to be second best on the ticket. In a letter to James 
H. Titus, Esq., bearing date April 15, 1847, Mr. Wright 
says: 

" If the question had been pi-opounded to me at any period of my public 
life, Shall the arms of the Union be employed to conquer, or the money of the 
Union he used to purchase Territory now constitutionally free, for the purpose 
of planting Slavery upon it, I should have answered, No! And this answer 
to this question is the Wilmot Proviso, as I understand it. / am surprised 
that any one should suppose me capable of entertaining any other opinion, or 
ywing any other answer as to such a proposition." 

Now, if Silas Wright, one of the great "Northern lights" of 
Democracy, held these sentiments in 1847, what must they have 
been in 1844, when that party sought to elevate him to the second 
office within the gift of the nation? But we are just reminded of 
what h said in " the law and the prophets," that is to say, "It is 
no part of the creed of a Democrat, as such, to advocate or oppose 
the extension of slavery!" What a party! 



WITH F0REIGNI8M. 



[From the Knoxville Whig for Sept. 22, 1855.] 

TO 11EV. A. B. LONGSTREET, 

PROFESSOR OF METIIODISM, ROMANISM, AND LOCOFOCOISM. 

Reverend Sir : — I see a pastoral address of yours, to " Meth- 
odist Know-Nothing Preachers," going the rounds of the Locofoco 
Foreign Sag Nicht papers of the South, occupying from four to six 
columns, according to the dimensions of the papers copying. I 
have waded through your learned address, and find it to be 
one of more ponderous magnitude than the Report made to the 
British House of Commons, by Lord North, on a subject of far 
greater interest ! And as I am one of the class of men you 
address, notwithstanding your great advantage over me in point of 
age and experience ; and as no one has made a formal response to 
your pious warnings, it will not be deemed insolent in me to take 
you up. 

My first acquaintance with you was in 1847, at an Annual 
Meeting of the Georgia Conference, held in Madison ; and although 
the impressions made upon my mind by you, on that occasion, were 
any thing but favorable to you, as a man, still, I am capable, as I 
believe, of doing you justice. I supposed you then to be the rise 
of sixty years, certainly in your dotage and among the vainest old 
gentlemen I had ever met with. You obtained leave, as I under- 
stand, by your own seeking, to deliver a lecture to the Conference, 
upon the subject of correctly reading and pronouncing the Scrip- 
tures. I was in attendance, and listened to you with all the atten- 
tion and impartiality I was capable of exercising. I thought it a 
little presumptuous for any one man to assume to teach more than 
one hundred able ministers how to read and pronounce the inspired 
writings ; and the more so, when I knew that several of the num- 
ber were presidents and professors in different male and female col- 
leges, and that many others of them were graduates of the best 
literary institutions in the South. Still, my apology for you was, 
that you was a vain old gentleman, and that to listen to you, 
respectfully, was to obey the Divine teaching of one who has taught 
us to "bear the infirmities of the weak." Your samples, both of 



■2l! AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

reading and pronunciation, were amusing and novel to me. And 
so far as I could gather the prevailing sentiment, it was, that to 
adopt jour style would render the reading of the Scriptures per- 
fectly ridiculous. 

In your address to "Methodist Know-Nothing Preachers," I 
discover that you are still the man you were at Madison, in 1847 : 
you have a great deal to say about yourself, and make free use of 
the personal pronoun I ! / advise — I believe — I am satisfied — I 
will not agree — /warn and caution — Jfear, or /apprehend, etc. 
To parse the different sentences in your partisan harangue syntac- 
tically, little else is necessary but to understand the first person 
singular j and to repeat the rule as often as it occurs: a peculiarity 
which characterizes every paragraph in your labored address. Be- 
side, the frequent use of the pronouns I, me, my, mine, etc., too fre- 
quently occur to be worth estimating. And it will be seen, upon 
examination, that not merely the verbiage, but the sentiment, is 
thus egotistic throughout, exhibiting a degree of arrogance and 
self-importance, only to be met with in a Clerical Locofoco, used by 
bad men for ignoble purposes. To carry out the idea of your 
vanity, you say in the winding up of your address : 

"And now, brethren, have I or Mr. Wesley hit upon one good reason why 
you should not have joined the Know-Nothings ? If either of us have, then / 
beseech you to come from among them. If we have have not, there is yet 
another in reserve which, if it does not prevail will show — or prove to my 
satisfaction at least — that if an angel from heaven were to denounce your 
order, you would cleave to it still." 

Any other man but yourself would, from considerations of mo- 
desty, have given John Wesley the preference, in this connection, 
and come in as second best. But no. you are first in place, and, in 
your own estimation, in importance likewise, as a religious teacher. 

I have no doubt you consider yourself a much greater man than 
John Wesley ever was ; and in proof of this, I need only cite what 
you have said in reference to Mr. Wesley's opposition to Romanism : 

"Even good old John Wesley caught the spirit of the times, and wrote that 
letter, from which it appears he thought if the Catholics got into power, they 
would abuse Protestants. What abuse they could have heaped on them, 
greater than they heaped on Catholics, short of cutting their throats, I cannot 
conceive." 

The only superior you acknowledge is Cardinal Wiseman, a 
bigoted Roman Catholic, and you seem to knock under to him quite 
reluctantly, and not without informing the public that you have 
been a laborious student for forty years, and "a profound thinker:' 
Here is your praise : 

" I 1,:1 ' '" ' "'" a pretty severe student for near forty years, and a laborious, 
il BOt profbutid Hunker for a long time; but when I compare myself in intel- 



WITH FOREIQNISM. 27 

leotoa] stature with that man, I shrink in my own estimation to the insi^nili 
canoe of a mite." 

So much by way of noticing vanity. You arc a literary and 
theological star of the first magnitude ! You are an encyclopedia 
of the learning, science, patriotism, and religion of the count iv : 
Sir, if you possessed a little more sheep-faced modesty, and could 
exhihit a little less of lion-headed impudence than you do, you 
would be a much more useful, not to say successful minister of the 
New Testament ! 

Sir, you have taken the field in opposition to Know-Nothingism, 
professedly through your deep and abiding concern for Christianity, 
and the interests of Methodism. You say : 

"You cannot surely be so weak as to suppose you can crush Romanism by 
Know-Nothing agencies ; but you have almost ruined Methodism by them 
already. 

" Now the ruler of this nation is spoken evil of by your party continually, 
and therefore, in the judgment of Wesley, I might stand up in the pulpit and 
defend him." 

The truth is, you are influenced alone by partisan political feel- 
ings ; and occupying a position in a Mississippi College, in the 
midst of Fire-eating Disunion Progressive Democracy, you desire 
to please them, rather than serve the interests of your country or 
Church. To take the stump, or the pulpit, in defence of Frank 
Pierce and his corrupt administration, would be a pleasant talk to 
you, who have been, all your life-time, an inveterate Locofoco in 
politics, and "a profound thinker" in favor of its iniquitous mea- 
sures and principles. In your early political training, you have 
been swayed by interest and popular favor, and in most cases at 
the expense of truth, just as you now are, in your mad vindication 
of Romanism. A tool for others to work with, till you have found 
yourself in a condition to use such tools as you yourself have been, 
you are now a trimmer and weathercock, leading on men of less 
sense than yourself, to such distinction as interest and ambition 
may dictate ! 

Sir, you take the ground, throughout, that there is no danger of 
Catholics in this country, and that they do not seek to establish 
their religion. Here is a specimen of your logic : 

"Thank God no religious sect can tyrannize over another in this country, 
so long as they all respect the Federal Constitution. Until we see, then, the 
Catholics treating that instrument with disrespect, it is madness to entertain 
fears of them ; and worse than madness to form combinations against them." 

Now, sir, the foregoing statement is untrue, and in making it 
you could not have been sincere. You are a man of too much 
sense, and of too much information, to believe what you are wick- 
edly trying to palm upon others. Brownson's Quarterly Review, 



28 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

the most able, as well as the most authentic organ of Catholicism 
in the United States, employs the following language to the 
American people — mark it : 

"Are your free institutions infallible f Are they founded on Divine right? 
This you deny. Is not the proper question for you to discuss, then, not 
whether the Papacy be or be not compatible with republican government, but 
whether it be or be not founded in Divine right? If the Papacy be founded 
in Divine right, it is supreme over whatever is founded only in human right, 
and then your institutions should be made to harmonize with it: not it with 
your institutions ! ! ! The real question, then, is not the compatibility or the 
incompatibility of the Catholic Church with democratic institutions, but, Is the 
Catholic Church the Church of God? 

" Settle this question first. But in point of fact, democracy is a mischievous 
dream, wherever the Catholic Church does not predominate, to inspire the peo- 
ple with reverence, and to teach and accustom them to obedience to authority." 

Here is still plainer language from the Roman Catholic Bishop 
of St. Louis : 

"Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy 
and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the 
Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished 
as other crimes." 

Here is what the Boston Pilot says, a Catholic paper of high 
standing : 

" iVb good government can exist without religion, and there can be no reli- 
gion without an inquisition, which is wisely designed for the promotion and 
protection of the true faith." 

Here is the Shepherd of the Valley, published under the eye and 
with the approbation of the Bishop of St. Louis : 

" The Church is, of necessity, intolerant. Heresy she endures when and 
where she must ; but she hates it, and directs all her energies to its destruc- 
tiod. _ If Catholics ever gain an immense numerical majority, religious free- 
dom in this country is at an end: so say our enemies — so say we." 

And here is what the Rambler says, a devoted Catholic periodical, 
high in the confidence of the Bishops and Priests of that Church : 

"You ask if he (the Pope) were lord in the land, and you were in the 
minority, if not in numbers, yet in power, what would he do to you? That, 
we say, would entirely depend on circumstances. If it would benefit the 
cause of Catholicism, he would tolerate you — if expedient, he would imprison 
you, banish you, fine you, probably he might even hang you ; but, be assured 
of one thing, he would never tolerate you for the sake of the ' glorious princi- 
ples' of civil and religious liberty." 

I could give other quotations of this character, which have met 
your eye long since, but I forbear, as they would extend my letter 
beyond the limit I have prescribed for myself. These are the pub- 
lications which, in part at least, have given rise to the Know- 
Nothing organization, so cordially hated by you. 

You say there is no danger of injury to our institutions from 



WITH FOUEKiXrSM. 29 

the rapid strides of Romanism. Allow me to ask your attention to 
the following remarkable political prediction by the Duke of Rich- 
mond, late Governor-Geneial of Canada, and a British aoble, who 
declared himself hostile to the United States on all occasions. 
Speaking of our Government, this deadly enemy said: 

"It will be destrr>3'ed ; it ought not, it will not bo permitted to exist." 
" The curse of the French revolution, and subsequent wars and commotions 
in Europe, are to be attributed to its example; and 80 long OS it exists, Q0 
prime will be safe upon his throne; and the sovereigns of Europe are aware 

of it ; and they have determined upon if--! destruction, <ui<l hare conn- to an 
understanding upon this subject, and have decided on the menus to m ■•< umplish 
it; and they will eventually succeed by SUBVERSION rather thou conquest." 
"All the low and surplus population of the different nations of Europe will be 
carried into that country. It is and will be a receptacle for the bad and dis- 
affected population of Europe, when they are not wanted fnr soldiers, or to 
supply the navies; and the governments of Europe will favor such a course. 
This will create a surplus and majority of low population, who are so very 
easily excited: ami they will bring with them their principles; and in nine 
cases out of ten adhere to their ancient and former governments, laws, man- 
ners, customs, and religion ; and will transmit them to their posterity ; aud in 
many cases propagate them among the natives. These men will become citi- 
zens, and, by the constitution and laws, will be invested with the right of suf- 
frage." "Hence, discord, dissension, anarchy and civil war witl ensue; and 
some popular individual will assume the government, and restore order, and 
the sovereigns of Europe, the emigrants, and many of the natives will sus- 
tain him." "The Church of Rome has a design upon that country ; and it 
will in time be the established religion, and will aid in the destruction of that 
Republic." " I have conversed with many of the sovereigns and princes of 
Europe, and they have unanimously expressed these opinions relative to the gov- 
ernment of the United States, and their determination to subvert it." 

But, sir, after eulogizing Catholics for their devotion to religious 
toleration in this country, you make two assertions, touching the 
Methodist Church, for which I wish to arraign you, and for which 
the authorities of said Church ought to arraign you, under that 
section of our Discipline which forbids railing out against our Doc- 
trines and Discipline. You say : 

"And if I were to take the stump against you, I would say to the honest 
yeomanry of the country. 'Good people, if you think your liberties will \>eauy 
safer in the hands of Methodists than Catholics, you ore vastly mistaken.' 

" I would add, in humiliation but in candor, ' You have ten thousand times 
more to fear, just at this time, from Methodists, than Catholics ; simply because 
the first are more numerous than the last, because the first are actually in the 
field for office, while the last are not.' " 

If you have this opinion of the Methodist Church, you cannot 
be an honest man and remain within her jurisdiction. You ought 
to leave her communion forthwith, and go over to Rome; and in 
doing this, you would not have far to go ! Occupying the position 
you do, and holding the sentiments you do, I would not send a 
child to any school or college over which you might preside. Nor 
do I think any Protestant parent or guardian ought to patronize 



30 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

anj' school under your care. Your influence, whatever you may 
possess, is against the Protestant faith, and in favor of Catholicism. 
In a word, you are a dangerous man in a Republican government. 

Upon the subject of religious toleration by the Catholics, you 
seem to have fallen into the same error adopted by the Hon. Mr. 
Stephens, of Georgia — a man for whom you have great regard now, 
but who, in the days of Clay Whiggery, was a stench in your Loco- 
foco nostrils! Mr. Stephens made the assertion, in a public speech 
in Augusta, that "the Catholic Colony of Maryland, under Lord 
Baltimore, was the first to establish the principle of free toleration 
in religious worship." The Colony of Maryland was a Catholic 
Colony, and the "Toleration Act" was written by Lord Baltimore 
himself. That Act is dated 21st April, 1649, when Lord Balti- 
more was in the zenith of his glory. Here is the language of that 
"Act" of religious toleration : 

"Denying the Holy Trinity is to be punished with death, and confiscation 
of land and goods to the Lord Proprietary, (Lord Baltimore himself!) Per- 
sons using any reproachful words concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the 
Holy Apostles or Evangelists, to be fined £5, or in default of payment to be 
publicly whipped and imprisoned, at the pleasure of his Lordship, (Lord Balti- 
more himself!) or of his Lieutenant-General." See Laws of Maryland, at large, 
by T. Bacon, A.D. 1765. 1(3 aud 17 Cecilius's Lord Baltimore. 

God deliver us from such toleration ! Death was the penalty for 
expressing certain religious opinions, not acceptable to Lord Balti- 
more and the Holy Catholic Church ! Fines and whipping at the 
post was the penalty for speaking against the image-worship of the 
Catholic Church. But I need not pursue this subject further : the 
onus prop andi is on your side. 

Speaking of Mr. Wesley, you say : 

" If Wesley were alive, what would he think of your midnight plots, and 
open tirades against Papists? But a letter of his has been going the rounds 
of the newspapers, which the Know Nothings obviously think gives the sanc- 
tion of that good man to their movement. Not so. Mr. Wesley was not the 
man to write as inconsistently as their version of this letter makes him 
write." 

_ Why, sir, Mr. Wesley goes much further in his political opposi- 
tion to Roman Catholics than the American party have ever pro- 
posed to go. The American party say only that they will not vote 
for Catholics, or put them in office, because their principles are 
antagonistic to the spirit of Republican institutions. Mr. Wesley 
lays down the comprehensive, but true doctrine, in this very letter, 
that " no government not Roman Catholic ought to tolerate men of 
the Roman Catholic persuasion" And to show how fully and 
clearly he sustains this position, I quote from his letter at length. 
You will find the letter in Vol. 5, page 817, of Wesley's Miscel- 



WITH FOBBIGNISM. -!1 

laneous Works, dated January 12th, 1780. It was originally ad- 
dressed to tlic Dublin Freeman's Journal. Sere is what Mr, Wes- 
ley Bays, in the very letter you seek to deny out of: 

" I consider not whether the Romish religion is true <>r false ■ build nothing 
on one or the other supposition. Therefore, away wiih all your common-place 
declamation ahout intolerance and persecution for religion] Suppose every 
word nf Pope Pius's creed to be true ! Suppose the Council of Trent to have 
been infallible; yet I insist upon it that no government not Roman Catholic 
ought to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion. 

"I prove this by a plain argument — let him answer it thai can— that do 
Roman Catholic does or can give security for his allegiance or peaceable beha- 
vior. I prove it thus: It is a Roman Catholic maxim, established not by pri- 
vate men, but by public council, that 'No faith is to be kept with heretics.' 
This has been openly avowed by the Council of Constance ; but it has never 
been openly disclaimed. Whether private persons avovi or disavow it, it is a 

fixed maxim of the Church of Rome. But as Long as it is BO, nothing ran be 

more plain than that the members of that Church can give n > reasonable 

security to any government for their allegiance and peaceable behavior. 
Therefore, they ought not to be tolerated by any government, Protestant, Mo- 
hammedan, or Pagan. You say, 'Nay, but they take an oath of allegiance.' 
True, five hundred oaths; but the maxim, 'No faith is to be kept with here- 
tics,' sweeps them all away as a spider's web. So that still no governors that 
are not Roman Catholics ran have any security of their allegiance. 

"Again, those who acknowledge the spiritual power of the Pope can give 
no security of their allegiance to any government ; but all Roman Catholics 
acknowledge this: therefore they can give no security for their allegiance. 
The power of granting pardons for all sins — past, present, and to come — is, 
and has been for many centuries, one branch of his spiritual power. But 
those who acknowledge him to have this spiritual power can give no security 
for their allegiance, since they believe the Pope can pardon rebellion, high 
treason, and all other sins whatever. The power of dispensing with any pro- 
mise, oath, or vow, is another branch of the spiritual power of the Pope: all 
who acknowledge his spiritual power must acknowledge this. But whoever 
acknowledges the dispensing power of the Pope, can give no security for his 
allegiance to any government. Oaths and promises are none : they are as 
light as air — a dispensation makes them null and void. Nay, imt only the 
Pope, but even a priest has power to pardon sins! This is an essential doc- 
trine of the Church of Rome. But they that acknowledge this, cannot possi- 
bly give any security for their allegiance to any government. Oaths are no 
security at all: for the priest can pardon both perjury and high treason. Set- 
ting their religion aside, it is plain that, upon principles id' reason, no govern- 
ment ought to tolerate men who cannot give any security to that government 
for their allegiance and peaceful behavior. But this, no Romanist can do ; 
not only while he holds that ' no faith is to be kept with heretics,' but BO long 
as he acknowledges either priestly absolution, or the spiritual power of the 
Pope. 

"If any one pleases to answer this, and set his name, I shall probably 
reply. But the productions of anonymous writers I do not promise to take 
any notice of. 

" I am, sir, your humble servant. 

"JOHN WESLEY. 

" City Road, January 12, 1780." 

But, sir, you know as well as any living man that the history of 
the Church, from the days of the first Pope down to the iniquitous 



32 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

reign of Pius IX., sustains Mr. Wesley in his views on this subject, 
and justifies the steps taken by the American party. Notwith- 
standing the oft-repeated profession of Catholic liberality and Ro- 
mish toleration, so triumphantly paraded by you, and other interested 
aspirants and unprincipled demagogues, the Catholic Church has 
invariably shown herself to be destitute of both, whenever she had 
the opportunity of using them. Sir, iyitolerance is an element of 
her faith, and persecution a specimen of her piety ; and no man 
knows it better than you do. In taking upon herself the obligation 
of "true obedience to the Pope," the Catholic Church imposes 
upon herself a task that proves beyond all doubt she cannot, under 
any circumstances, remain faithful to that obligation, and yet main- 
tain " allegiance" to such a government as ours ! 

Sir, I have no patience with a Protestant minister who stands 
forth as the apologist of Catholicism ; nor have I any confidence in 
one who does it, provided he is a man of intelligence, as I admit 
you to be. The only excuse I can render for your strange and 
inconsistent conduct is, that you are in your dotage ; that you are 
a violent old partisan ; and that you are the tool of designing dema- 
gogues, infamous disunionists, and unmitigated repucfiators. I shall 
not be at all surprised to hear that you have apostatized from the 
Methodist Church, and gone over to the Roman Catholics. I learn 
from the Little Rock Gazette, a Democratic paper, that but the 
other day, Gov. E. N. Carway, of Arkansas, a member of the Me- 
thodist Church, had actually apostatized from Methodism, and 
the Protestant faith, and united with the Roman Catholics. And 
what makes his defection from the faith of his fathers still more 
notorious, his organ is down upon the Protestant clergy in bitter 
and unrelenting denunciations ! I believe that you are preparing 
to go over to the Roman Catholics ; and to justify your change, 
when the time comes, you now assert, " in humiliation but in can- 
dor," you say, that the people "have ten thousand times more to 
fear from Methodists than from Catholics." If you believe this, 
you ought to leave the Methodist Church instantly, even without 
the formalities of a withdrawal or expulsion — even though you 
should be denied admittance into the Catholic Church ! I deny 
that we have u ten thousand times more to fear' from the Devil 
than we have from the Catholics ; and according to your argument, 
the Methodists are worse than the Devil I This, their most bitter 
rcvilers and enemies do not believe ; and for obvious reasons. The 
Methodist Church has no St. Bartholomew's Day, with its rivers 
of blood staining her garments : she never indiscriminately slaugh- 
tered the Albigenses, or Waldenses, or Huguenots : she never 
established an infernal Inquisition : she never lit up the fires of 
Smithfield : never burned the Holy Bible, and prohibited, upon 



with i\»i:i:h;nism. 33 

pain of eternal death, tin- printing and circulating of God' 8 word; 
and last, but not least, she haa not sought to keep the people in 

ignorance. Wherever Methodism has been planted, the people 

have become great and happy. 11' you please, wherever Protest- 
antixm has prevailed, the people have been prosperous and happy. 
But look to Old Spain, Italy, the German Confederacies, Sar- 
dinia, Naples, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Bavaria, Baden, Smith 
America, and Mexico, where Romanism is the established religion, 
and the places of her influence arc a hissing and a by-word in the 
eyes of the civilized world ! Protestantism has done more for the 
world in the last hundred years than the Roman Catholic Church 
has for the eighteen hundred years ! 

Sir, the Puritans, of New England ; the Hollanders, of New 
York ; the Quakers, Lutherans, and German Reformed, of Penn- 
sylvania; the Baptists, of Rhode Island; the Episcopalians and 
Presbyterians, of Virginia; the Lutherans and followers of Wesley 
and Whitefield, of Georgia ; the Huguenots and Episcopalians, of 
the Carolinas ; and the Seccders in several of the States, who were 
the religious pioneers of these States, were all Protestants and 
Know Nothings ; and if they were living, they would be ashamed 
of you and your teachings. They selected this wilderness country 
as their home, in order that they might enjoy those religious privi- 
leges from which they had been debarred in the old world, by the 
very Church and people you are seeking to vindicate. 

But you will say, as you have done in substance, that this is no 
longer the characteristic of Romanism. Why is it not ? Has she 
ever changed for the better ? When did she renounce her doc- 
trines and practices ? Never ! Rome is the same tyrannical sys- 
tem now, where she has the power, that she ever has been, and for 
ever must be. Wo to this land of ours, if ever Rome gets the ascend- 
ancy here ! Her creed is the same here and now, in this respect, 
that it has everywhere been, and must always be. It is her boast 
that she is always right, and knows no change. She practices her 
unholy inquisitorial and Jesuitical doctrines in this country, as far 
as she can and dare act them out. Her whole system is adverse 
to our republican institutions, and she hesitates not to declare it. 
She has publicly burned our Bible in different States in this Union, 
and recently, in New York and Pennsylvania. Archbishop Hughes, 
the Head of the Catholic Church in this country, has taken an oath, 
administered by the Pope of Rome, of which this is a part : 

"Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said Lord (the Pope) or his afore- 
said successors, I will, to my utmost power, persecute and wage war wifk." 

The Church of Rome declares all who are not its members to be 
heretics. It is painful, in view of all these things, to see an old 
Protestant minister, whose head has been withered by the frosts of 
3 



34 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

seventy winters, openly in the field advocating a Church whose 
Bishops, Priests, and members are "drunken with the blood of 
saints." 

There is but one remaining feature of your singular address to 
Know Nothing Methodist Preachers to be replied to, and I am 
through. You assail the new party on the score of its secrecy, 
and of its concealment of its acts from the public. Had this objec- 
tion come from any one but a Methodist Preacher, and a known 
advocate of Class-meetings being held with closed doors, I would 
now dispose of it without occupying as much space as I shall do in 
my concluding remarks ! 

Notwithstanding all the secrecy in the new Order of Know 
Nothings has been set aside by the act of the National Council 
which created it ; and notwithstanding our members tell all about 
their Councils, where and when they meet, and our orators read 
out and publish to the world our obligations, rules, and principles, 
it is still objected that ours is a secret Order, liable to be used for 
bad purposes ; that we travel about with dark lanterns ; that our 
proceedings are not restrained by the wholesome check of public 
opinion ! 

Now, this, the great objection to our Order, comes from men 
who belong to Lodges of Free Masons and Odd Fellows, and who 
have taken all the binding oaths attached to the different degrees 
of these respective Orders ! The same objection is urged against 
the American party, by men who belong to the Order of Sons of 
Temperance, who have deemed a rigid secret organization neces- 
sary to combat successfully a domestic evil ! It is urged in bitter- 
ness against the Order, by demagogues and partisans, who have 
acted for years with the secret political conclaves of their respective 
parties, who have held their meetings with closed doors — kept their 
places of meeting a profound secret — and when they have adjourned, 
they have enjoined secrecy upon all present ! Last, but not least, 
this secret feature is urged against the American organization by 
the vile apologists for the Catholic Church, and its corrupt Priest- 
hood and membership, in this country. These demagogues know 
that the Roman Catholic Church is a secret society, directed by a 
talented, designing, and villainous HIERARCHY — absolutely con- 
trolled by an awta'-Republican Priesthood, to a degree which has 
never been exercised by any political party in the known world ! 
The Confessional is a secret tribunal, before which every member 
of that Church is required to make known, not only immoral actions, 
but every thought and purpose of the heart, and upon pain of incur- 
ring the anathema of the Church, which is equivalent to a sentence 
of eternal damnation ! The corrupt order of Jesuits, the infamous 
society of San Fedesti, and the infinitely infernal society of Irish 



with forekjnism. 

Rii:bon Men — these arc all oath-bound societies of the Catholic 
Church, connected directly with the horrid operations of the u Hoty 
Inquisition." 

Now, I put the question to any man of reason and common 
sense, it' Roman Catholics and their patriotic Democratic admirers 
and advocates, in this country, are not the last men on earth who 
should ohject to the secret doings of the order of Know Nothings, 
even if their secrecy were kept up? Every Roman Catholic in the 
known world is under the absolute control of a secret society, by 
considerations not only of a temporal, but of an ETERNAL WEIGH! ! 

But I am not done with these Democratic opposers of BEOREOT. 
The Convention which formed the Constitution of the United States, 
sat in the old State House in Philadelphia, with closed doors, from 
the 25th of May to the 11th of /September, wanting only eight days 
of four months. That body of men had a Door-keeper and Ser- 
geant-at-arms, both under oath, to keep their doors barred, and all 
their proceedings a secret. So says Mr. Jefferson's biography ! 
And such men as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Frank- 
lin, Harrison, Hancock, Hopkins, and others, composed that body ! 
During the war of the Revolution, General Washington, Generals 
Lee, Wayne, Marion, and others, organized a secret American 
Society, with its branches extending from North to South, having 
their passwords, signs, and grips, and writing to each other in 
figures, and "an unknown tongue," as the Know Nothings have 
been doing, and all, too, with a view to oppose Foreign intrigues 
and oppressions ! It is as well known as any political truth, that 
General Washington, at the time of his death, was the President 
of the Cincinnati Society, a secret political society, in which, we see 
it stated on unquestionable authority, no man was eligible to mem- 
bership unless he was a native American. The Columbian Order, 
known as the "Tammany Society," was a secret political society, 
and highly influential, and maintains its existence to this day, and 
without danger to the liberties of the country. Gen. Sam Houston 
publishes to the world that himself and Gen. Jackson were mem- 
bers of this Society. What say the anti-Americans to all these 
facts ? Do they believe that Gen. Washington, or Jackson, would 
have united with any association or order not purely American ? 
Would either have entered into any political league, when secrecy 
was enjoined, if he had not approved of the principle of secrecy in 
political associations ? Never ! From the characters of Washing- 
ton and Jackson — the sacrifices they made for their country, united 
with their fervid patriotism, and their known preference for every 
thing American, I do not doubt for one moment, that if they were 
both now living, they would unite with the veritable Order of Know 
Nothings ! 



36 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

I believe the hand of God to be in this very movement, and as 
much in the secrecy of it, in the outset, as in any other feature. I 
regard the movement as one growing out of a great crisis in the 
affairs of our country, and a precursor of a sound, healthful, and 
vigorous nationality, and which will ultimately prevent the liberties 
of°this country from being destroyed, by the machinations -of such 
demagogues and factionists as now seek to excuse Romanism, and 
fellowship Foreign Pauperism. Secret societies are only dangerous 
to despots and tyrants, and history shows that these above all others 
have made war upon them. They have denounced and proscribed 
Masonry in every quarter of the globe, where they have had the 
power. The Pope, with the aid of his Cardinals, has crushed the 
ancient order of Free Masons in his dominions. There is not a 
Masonic Lodge in Italy. In our own country, not a single Catholic 
is to be found associated with the order of Free Masons ; and why ? 
Masonry is founded upon the Bible, and requires the reading of the 
Protestant Bible in all its Lodges, and this don't suit Romanism. 
We state these general and historical facts, without knowing any 
thing of our own knowledge of Masonry. 

In the young and growing city of Knoxville, it is within our own 
knowledge, that many of the Irish Catholics attached themselves 
to the Order of the Sons of Temperance, with a view, as they said, 
of throwing around them the wholesome restraints of the Order. 
On the first visit of a priest to the city, commonly called " Father 
Brown," these Irish Catholics began to drop off one by one, until 
not one of them is now in the Order, and most of those who were, 
are daily seen drunk in our streets. Indeed, some of them in 
withdrawing had the candor to acknowledge that the priest required 
them to do so ! And why ? Because, in all the Divisions of the 
Sons of Temperance here, we have the Protestant Scriptures read, 
and have Protestant prayers offered up. This don't suit the Church 
of Rome ! 

I have the honor to be, very truly and frankly, 

W. GL Brownlow. 



WITH FOREIONISM. 37 



TO THE RIGHT REVEREND AARON V. BROWN, M. S. 

Sir : — I have received by mail a pamphlet copy of your " Letter 
to the Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers, Itinerant and Local, of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church South," covering twenty-eight 
octavo pages. I thank you for a copy of your Pastoral address ; 
and I am happy to be able to infer from its teachings that you 
have made a profession of religion, before taking upon yourself 
"Holy Orders." I suppose the time of your conversion, you date 
back to the memorable period when you "saw sights" on Mount 
Pisgah, and had conferred on you the degree of Modem Seer, and 
entered upon the duties of "High Priest" of Democracy! As I 
am one of the parties addressed, and the customs of the Church and 
the country require a response to so grave a document, I have felt 
it incumbent upon me to perform the task. I may style this the 
Last epistle of Aaron, the Priest, and illustrious Chief of Foreign 
Catholic Sag Nicht Locofocoism ! 

My first impulses were, upon reading your address, to call for 
your credentials, and to examine into your authority for assuming 
to dictate to the entire Ministry of the Southern portion of the 
Methodist Church. You must either enter the Ecclesiastical ring 
under the imposition of the hands of Bishop Soule or Andy John- 
son. If Bishop Soule ordained you for the Ministry, and set you 
apart as the Lieutenant-General of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
South, the presumption is that he examined you on doctrinal 
points, and upon all questions affecting the government of the 
Church, as was his duty, and is our custom, and that he found you 
orthodox ! It follows, as a matter of course, that you renounced 
your heresy you advocated in the Hartford Convention, held at 
Nashville, and that you obtained forgiveness for that and numerous 
other "sins of omission and commission" — aye, for the whole cata- 
logue of your inward and outward iniquities, which so eminently 
disqualified you for the work of the Ministry ! But if Andy John- 
son ordained you for the work, of which there is no sort of doubt, 
the Church South, through me, protests against your authority, and 
utterly refuses to submit to your teachings. Our Church does not 
agree with Johnson on the "White Basis" issue, or the great 



38 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

question of slavery ; and in proof of this, I cite to the fact of her 
separation from the North, in 1844, upon this very question. She 
has within her bounds of communion, rich men and poor, educated 
and uneducated, and is unwilling to unite with him in arraying the 
poor against the rich, or the unlearned against the learned. Nor 
does our Church believe that Jesus Christ was a Locofoco, as John- 
son asserts in his Inaugural, and held that Christianity and Demo- 
cracy, in converging lines, led to the foot of Jacob's Ladder, and 
thence to heaven, via Mount Pisgah, from whose lofty summit you 
first beheld the promised land ! 

It therefore follows, that, in presenting yourself as a spiritual 
leader in the Church, called to the work, as you have been, by 
Andy Johnson, your case is fully met by a quotation from Job : 

" Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves 
before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." 

A second passage, from the Book of Jeremiah, meets your case, 
and leaves no doubt that the inspired Prophet had you in his eye : 

" We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceedingly proud,) his loftiness, 
and his arrogance, and his pride, and his haughtiness of heart. 

" I know his wrath, saith the Lord ; but it shall not be so ; his lies shall not 
so effect it." 

To be candid with you, Gov. Brown, I regard your address, 
under all the circumstances, as a display of the most brazen-faced 
assurance and the most unmitigated impudence I ever met with in 
my life ! I have known for years that you were capable of great 
presumption, but in this insolent and dictatorial address you sur- 
pass yourself — you positively out-Herod Herod ! In the whole 
history of the country, and of parties, I venture the assertion, that 
a parallel piece of impudence, and downright bold-faced assurance, 
cannot be pointed to, as the act of any partisan. It is really past 
all belief, if I had not your production before me. But more of 
this hereafter. 

Copies of your pamphlet were distributed through the aisles and 
seats of the Annual Conference room in Nashville, and have been 
sent all over the South, to members of other Conferences. Your 
proof-sheet was seen ten days before the meeting of the Middle 
Tennessee Conference, and your "work of faith and labor of love" 
was ready for distribution when the Conference first convened, but 
you held it back till the Conference was ready to adjourn, and to a 
period so late, that a reply, if one had been deemed necessary, 
could not be made. This was cowardly, and in keeping with your 
political tactics and code of morals. In saying that this was in 
keeping with your code of morals, I allude to the Woodberry 
affair. 



WITH FOREIUNISM. 

I shall now take up your address, Governor, and wade through 

its twenty-eight pages of double-distilled Sag Nichtism, sublimated 
impudence, and concealed advocacy of Romanism, mixed up with 
contradictions, false assertions, and glaring absurdities, as it is, from 
beginning to end. In the opening paragraph, you predicate your 
right to instruct the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the 
entire Church, South, upon the real or assumed fact, that you arc 
"The son of a now sainted father, who for forty years ministered 
at your altars, the co-laborer of that noble band of Christian min- 
isters, who, under Asbury and Coke, founded your Church in 
America!" 

Alas, that any "sainted Father" should be represented by so 
degenerate a son — an irreligious son — not a member of any Church 
— but having the hardihood, in the face of those who know the 
facts, to disguise himself in the priestly robes of a " sainted Father " 
— like an ass in a lion's skin, to bray out against better men than 
himself, or, like a wolf in sheep's clothing, to steal into the fold, 
where that Father was accustomed to minister in holy things, and 
with soft and honeyed words, and hypocritical teachings, and Satan- 
like misrepresentations, seek whom he may devour ! You tell the 
"Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," that you really "approve" 
their " creed," and, what is still more soul-cheering, you have "wit- 
nessed their growth and progress for years, with the highest satis- 
faction." This is very condescending in the "son of a now sainted 
father !" It is quite flattering! But these "Bishops, Elders, and 
other Ministers," would receive all this with a greater degree of 
allowance, if they did not believe that your generous patronage, so 
lavishly bestowed upon them and their "creed," was prompted by 
a principle of which selfishness is the soul ! They believe, and so 
express themselves in conversation, that your forced smile of appro- 
bation, your reluctant eulogy, have both been wrung from you, 
because you are a sycophantic partisan suitor for patronage, in the 
way of votes for your party. These Clergymen whom you address, 
think it a great pity that the "son of a now sainted father" should 
exhibit so much "satisfaction" at witnessing their prosperity, in 
theory, and manifest not one particle in practice. They think that 
you would be in your proper place, to be found among the mourn- 
ers, instead of the teachers in their Church ; and that it is high 
time, considering your age in life, and the extent of your iniqui- 
ties, that you should be found upon your knees, in an altar full of 
fresh straw, at an old-fashioned Camp-Meeting, asking the pious to 
pray for you, and God, for the sake of the forty years labors of " a 
now sainted father," to have mercy upon you, and save your sinful 
old soul from that death that never dies. 

Why, Sir, the Devil himself would blush to perpetrate such an 



40 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

act of arrogance as you have done, in thus volunteering your advice 
to the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," of the Methodist 
Church. An old political party hack, who is not now, and never 
was, a memher of any Church — an intriguing old sinner, who never 
even attends Church, and who, in this respect, shows that he neither 
fears God, respects the Christian Sabbath, nor "approves the creed" 
of any orthodox denomination, to be lecturing a numerous body of 
Clergymen, as to what they ought or ought not to do, it is the cul- 
mination of all that is called effrontery ! The " Bishops, Elders, 
and other Ministers" of the Methodist Church, wish the evidence 
of your conversion to God, before they consent to obey you, as 
"having the rule over them." Your approval of their " creed," and 
the "satisfaction" with which you have witnessed their progress, 
is not sufficient to satisfy their doubting minds, as long as you con- 
tinue to ride into Nashville on Sabbath, and retail political slang at 
the Inn, or read Sag Nicht papers at the Union Office, to the 
neglect of the house of God, and the evil example set before young 
men, against the statute in such cases made and provided ! We 
must, as Ministers, hear you relate your experience, in a regular 
class-meeting. Nay, more, knowing your raising, and your ability 
to " deceive, even the very elect," we must see you down upon your 
marrow-bones, surrounded by noisy and zealous officials, pounding 
you on the back, and exclaiming, as in the days of your "sainted 
father," Pray on, Aaron! We must hear you groan — we must 
see your sinful old bosom heave — we must witness the falling of big 
tears, as you publicly confess and manfully repent of your mis- 
deeds — of the whole catalogue, of all the inward and outward ini- 
quities of your past life — your sins of omission and commission, 
which God knows are more numerous than the hairs upon your 
old sinful head ! I say we must see all this, and even more, before 
we can have faith in your teachings, as big as even a grain of mus- 
tard seed ! 

But you are the "son of a now sainted father" — you derive 
great "satisfaction" from the "growth and progress" of Method- 
ism — you "approve" the Methodist "creed" — and hence, a glori- 
ous future awaits the Methodist Church : provided always, that her 
"Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" hearken to and obey your 
teachings, a thing they are very certain not to do, in the matter 
under consideration. It is a melancholy fact, that many of the 
sons of Methodist, and other Ministers, are very wicked and un- 
promising men ; and it is equally true, and certainly notorious, that 
where they turn out to be sinners, they are sinners above all offend- 
ers, dwelling either at Jerusalem or elsewhere ! I have no hesit- 
ancy in pronouncing you as hard a case, in a moral point of view, 
as ever came before the Church, and the only appropriate reply her 



WITH FoKHICNISM. 41 

ecclesiastical dignitaries can make to year address, is to appoint a 
day of fasting and prayer to God, for your conversion, to be 
observed throughout her borders. 1 now, as the appointed organ 

of the Church, set apart the first day of January, 1856, and 1 pray 
you, as one desiring the salvation of your soul, to be in the spirit 
and in a proper frame of mind on that day! Humble yourself 
before God — tell him that you were in error in stealing the livery 
of Heaven to serve the Devil in ! Tell him that you are an old 
worn-out political hack — that you have grown gray in the service 
of sin — that during the whole of a somewhat eventful life, your 
labors have been in the dirtiest pools of party politics — that you 
have been insincere and unscrupulous in all your teachings and 
acts — that you stand before the people of Tennessee publicly 
branded by eight respectable and reliable citizens of Wilson county, 
as a falsifier in the Know Nothing controversy of the past summer 
— and that you are sorry for having come forth steeped to the nose 
and chin in political profligacy, to lecture grave Clergymen upon 
subjects you ought to set at their feet and learn lessons about ! 
Tell your God, what he doubtless knows, that though the "son of 
a now sainted father," you are as full of devils as ever Mary Mag- 
dalene was — that like the " Imps of Sin," in Milton, these "yelp all 
around" you — that this is no reflection upon a "now sainted 
father," whose seeming neglect of your early training grew out 
of his continual absence from home, as is the case with most 
Methodist Preachers, — aye, tell your God, that once out of this 
scrape, you will never be caught in another of the kind ! You say, 

" From the foundation of our government, it has been a conceded and settled 
doctrine, that the various religious denominations should not, as such, inter- 
meddle with the political contests of the day. No instance is now remembered 
where they have done so !" 

This is a remarkable sentence, and partakes of the nature of 
your Wilson county assertions ! The history of the Church, and 
of the world, contradicts every word of the foregoing, and demon- 
strates that the "settled doctrine" of the Catholic Church, has ever 
been, as it still is, to "intermeddle with the political contests of 
the day." I will trouble you with two instances in which " religi- 
ous denominations, as such," have been guilty of what you deny. 
The Albany (N. Y.) State Register, a paper wbich usually does 
not say what it cannot maintain, states that ARCHBISHOP HuaHM 
has issued a mandate, commanding all Catbolics in the Albany 
District, in the exciting State election now coming off, to east their 
votes for Mr. Crosby for the Senate. But Roman Catholics, you 
falsely tell us, never " intermeddle with the political contests of 
the day:" no! 

The other " instance now remembered," is the one in which you 



42 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

were a candidate for a seat in the Legislature of Tennessee, in the 
county of Giles : this was, according to my recollection, in 1831, 
or a quarter of a century ago. At that time, there was a small 
Manual Labor School in Giles, which had been incorporated by the 
Legislature, and at the head of which was a Presbyterian. The 
gentleman who ran against you, if not a member of the Presby- 
terian Church, "approved" their "creed," and "witnessed their 
growth and progress for years with the highest satisfaction." You 
charged upon the stump that the Presbyterians were seeking to 
establish their religion by law, to unite Church and State — appealed 
to the Methodist and Baptist to put them down by electing you, 
with a promise that you would check their march by counter-legis- 
lation — and you were elected upon this issue. At the same time, 
as the oldest inhabitants of Giles know, there were not fifty Presby- 
terians in the county ! But "no instance is remembered" in which 
one sect has intermeddled with another — no ! You say : 

"In the mutations of parties in this country, a new one has lately arisen, 
to which, I apprehend, more of the Methodist ministers have attached them- 
selves, at least in the State of Tennessee, than might have been expected. 
This party, known as the Know Nothings, is so peculiar in its organization, 
that it seems strange to me that any minister or professor of religion should 
be willing longer to continue in it." 

Your apprehensions are well-founded, when you suppose that a 
very large proportion of the Methodist ministers in Tennessee are 
either members of this new party or sympathize with it. And, sir, 
more of the ministers of other denominations than you seem to be 
aware of, have either attached themselves to this party, " in the 
mutations of parties," or act with it, and endorse its aims and 
objects, than you have yet dreamed of! And "it seems strange" 
to these ministers, and thousands of the purest and best laymen in 
the Protestant ranks, " that any minister or professor of religion 
should be willing longer" to oppose the principles of this party, or 
array themselves under the black flag of Papal Rome, and of the 
pauper emigrants with whom she is flooding our land ! But, sir, 
the object of your Address is, to persuade if you can, and if not, 
to drive, by motives of fear, the Clergy of the Methodist Church 
from their position on this great American and Protestant question. 
Alas, how little does the "son of a sainted father" understand the 
material he attempts to work upon ! Methodist ministers are free 
men, the equals of other moral and upright men in heroic virtues, 
and far in advance of that of politicians in Tennessee who believe 
parties in religion, as in politics, are only " held together by the 
cohesive power of public plunder," and who assume to direct public 
opinion from a principle, of which selfishness is the Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end ! Sir, the violence, bitterness, 



WITII FOREKiMSM. 43 

and the very inflammatory tone, not to say language, of your <!al- 
latin, Lebanon, and Columbia speeches, are enough, it seems bo 
me, to nauseate every good and conservative citizen, and to dis- 
gust every " Bishop, Elder, and other Ministers, Itinerant and 
Local, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South." Even in this 
Address, you insult these ministers on every page. I see not how 
any preacher, with a true Protestant and American heart in him, 
can read this address of yours through, without rising up from his 
seat and saying : " I have voted with this Anti-Protestant and 
Anti- American party for the last time." 

In warning Methodist minsters to withdraw their sanction and 
approbation of Know Nothingism, you say : 

" I therefore call upon them this day to come out of these lodges, and never 
return to them : at all events, never return to them until all secrecy, all their 
bits of red paper, (indicating blood, even by the selection of color,) all their 
signs and signals, are utterly abolished and dispensed with. I call upon them 
to do this, and to do it forthwith — by their hopes of heaven — hy their obedi- 
ence to the word of God — hy their allegiance to the Constitution and laws of 
their country — to come out from any party which has adopted a mode and 
plan of organization so fatal to the peace of society, and the progress of true 
religion." 

What egotism ! You call upon them ! You make a freer use 
of the personal pronoun I, than even old Parson Longstreet, the 
Know Nothing slayer of Mississippi. To parse your different sen- 
tences syntactically, nothing else is necessary but to understand 
the first person singular, and to repeat the rule. Not only your 
verbiage but your sentiment is thus egotistic throughout ! 

Your appeal to the ministers to come out of this organization, on 
the ground of its secrecy, is a species of demagoguism, the more 
disgusting when it is considered that you are a Free Mason, and 
have, by all the arts and blandishment of your nature, sought to 
induce ministers to go into that organization. But, then, there is 
no violation of law or the Constitution in Masonry — " fatal to the 
peace of society and to the progress of true religion" — no, nothing ! 
Understand me: I am not opposed to Masonry. 

On this subject of the Romish creed, which you excuse, and even 
advocate, you admit that there are "alleged abuses," which have 
prompted the Protestant Churches to unite themselves with this 
new Order ! Then you insultingly tell these Churches this tale : 

"But they ought to have remembered, that even a virtuous indignation can 
never justify proscription and persecution : these hring no remedy to the real 
or supposed evils, but are sure to increase and aggravate them. These errors 
in faith, and abominations in practice, if they really exist, were known to the 
Wesleys, and Cokes, and Asburys, who founded your Church : to the Lees, 
the Bruces, the Capers, the Logan Douglasses, the Summerfields, and the 
Bascoms, who subsequently extended and adorned it. But they never pro- 
posed to kindle, in this enlightened age of Christianity, the consuming fires 

Of RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION." 



44 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Now, sir, every distinguished "founder" of the Methodist 
Church you have named, from Wesley to Bascom, has written and 
preached against the "errors in faith, and abominations in prac- 
tice," of the Romish Church, and they each and all have taken 
this very ground upon the religious issues. I have heard three of 
these men preach, and I am familiar with the writings of the rest, 
and know whereof I speak. 

You intentionally deceive and misrepresent the American party, 
when you charge that they seek to proscribe one class of our citi- 
zens — that they desire to interfere with the rights of conscience — 
and to say how men should worship God. Why don't you inform 
your readers that Archbishop Hughes, and other Catholic Bishops, 
were the first to introduce religion into political discussion in this 
country ? This would not suit your purposes — it suits your ob- 
jects, taste, and inclination better, to slander the American party 
by wholesale, and to charge upon its members the atrocities com- 
mitted by your foreign and pauper allies. We only choose to vote 
against them, and to vote for American-born citizens and Protest- 
ants : which is as much our right, as it is the right of these foreign 
Catholics to vote against and proscribe American Protestants. For 
this, you and your villainous associates exhaust the whole vocabu- 
lary of Billingsgate upon the American party. What is their 
offence? Why, they simply place certain questions before persons 
desiring to act with them, which they think, at least, may affect 
the national welfare, and before the people of the Union, and ask 
their opinion of these questions at the ballot-box. The American 
party has always denied, and I again reiterate the denial, that we 
do at all proscribe, or in any way interfere with, any class of 
our foreign citizens, save that we propose to send convicts from 
European prisons back to their own native and infamous dens, as 
fast as they land here — but these are not citizens of ours. I ap- 
peal to our Platform, and our Book of Constitutions, and I offer to 
any man a handsome reward — any man who will produce in either 
a statement containing the proscription you falsely charge against 
us. I now say, Gov. Brown, either do this, or cease your empty 
vaporing against the jiroscriptive features of our system, as you are 
pleased to style it. You declaim must lustily in favor of religious 
liberty for Catholics, which you know we do not propose as a party 
to interfere with ; and this you plead for at the altar of Methodist 
" Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," who know there is no 
religious^ liberty for Protestants where Catholics have the power to 
prevent it ! You plead in the most plaintive tones for the rights 
of foreign Catholics to be sworn into good citizens in less than one 
year after they land here, but do not seem to remember the Amer- 
ican Protestant wives and children, who have to subsist on charity 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 4£> 

during our severe winters, in consequence of their husbands and 
fathers being elbowed out of employment by the competition of 
foreign pauper laborers ! 

Sir, the American party, if in power, would put a stop to that 
proscription from office that has always characterized the party 
with which you act, and which has made the present Administra- 
tion so very and so justly odious to the country. Proscription, 
indeed ! Was there ever such glaring and actual proscription for 
the sake of religious and political creeds committed as by the pre- 
sent Administration ? The infamous Sag Nicht party with which 
you act, and of which you are a leader and a High Priest, though 
the "son of a now sainted father," has applied the political guillo- 
tine to almost every man in office who has dared to differ with them 
in their high estimate of foreign paupers and Catholic vagabonds, 
in many instances turning out native-born Protestants, and filling 
their places with foreign Catholics. And yet, with a degree of 
effrontery that throws the Devil far into the shade, you turn round 
and charge the American party with proscription, and ask the 
" Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," of the Methodist Church, 
"by their hopes of heaven — by their obedience to the word of 
G- 0( J — an d by their allegiance to the Constitution and laws of their 
country," to come out from a party so proscriptive ! Why, sir, 
you out-Herod old Herod himself! Your teachings contrasted 
with your practice, would cause a crimsoned negative to settle on 
the cheeks of old Pilate! And still you are the "son of a now 
sainted father" — you "approve" the "creed" of Methodism, and 
have "witnessed its growth and prosperity for years, with the 
highest satisfaction !" 

You quote from the Declaration of Independence, to show that 
toleration should be extended to Catholics and foreigners, and then 
insultingly add, as if you supposed no Methodist minister had ever 
perused the writings of Mr. Jefferson : 

" These are the words of Mr. Jefferson, but the immortal sentiment springs 
directly from the word of the living and true God. No: persecution at the 
stake, or by exclusion of Catholics from office, is not the weapon to be wielded 
by the Protestant Churches." 

You know that the notes of warning given to his countrymen by 
the sage of Monticello, and the great APOSTLE of American 
Democracy, are in harmony with the doctrines of the Know 
Nothing party. But you choose to conceal this fact from the 
"Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the Methodist Church, 
in the vain hope that their numerous pressing and official engage- 
ments will not allow them time to look up the documents. In Mr. 
Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, written in 1781, and published in 
1794, pages 124-5, I find the following Know Nothing doctrine : 



40 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

" But are there no inconveniences to be thrown into the scale against the 
advantage expected from a multiplication of numbers by the importation of 
foreigners ? It is for the happiness of those united in society to harmonize, 
as much as possible, in matters which they must of necessity transact 
together. Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its ad- 
ministration must be conducted by common consent. Every species of govern- 
ment has specific principles. Ours, perhaps, are more peculiar than those of 
any other in the universe. It is a composition of the freest principles of the 
English constitution, with others derived from natural right and natural 
reason. To these nothing can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute 
monarchs. Yet from such toe are to expect the greatest number of immigrants. 
They will bring with them the principles of the government they leave, imbibed 
in early youth : or, if able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an 
unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It 
would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty. 
These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children. 
In proportion with their numbers, they will share with us the legislation. 
They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its directions, and render 
it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. I may appeal to experience 
during the present contest for a verification of these conjectures. But |if they 
be not certain in event, are they not possible? are they not probable? Is it 
not safer to wait with patience twenty-seven years and three months longer 
for the attainment of every degree of population desired or expected ? May 
not our government be more homogeneous, more peaceable, more durable?" 

• Again, Mr. Jefferson, whilst our Minister to the Court of St. 
Cloud, addressed a letter to John Jay, dated November 14, 1788, 
in which he uses this language : 

"With respect to the Consular appointments, it is a duty on me to add 
some observations, which my situation here has enabled me to make. I think 
it was in the spi'ing of 1784, that Congress (harassed by multiplied applica- 
tions from foreigners, of whom nothing was known but on their information, 
or on that of others as unknown as themselves) came to the resolution that 
the interest of America would not permit the naming of any person, not a 
citizen, to the office of Consul, or Agent, or Commissary. Native citizens, on 
several valuable accounts, are preferable to aliens, or citizens alien-born. Native 
citizens possess our language, know our laws, customs and commerce, have 
general acquaintance in the United States, give better satisfaction, and are 
more to be relied on in a point of fidelity. To avail ourselves of our native 
citizens, it appears to me advisable to declare, by standing law, that no person 
hut a native citizen shall be capable of the office of Consul. This was the 
rule of 178-4, restraining the office of Consul to native citizens." 

In 1797, Mr. Jefferson drafted a petition to the Legislature of 
Virginia, on behalf of the citizens of Amherst, Albemarle, Fluvana, 
and Gouchland Bounties, in which he uses the following language : 

" Your petitioners further submit to the two Houses of Assembly, whether 
the safety of the citizens of this Commonwealth, in their persons," their pro- 
perty, their laws and government, does not require that the capacity to act in 
tin' important office of Juror, Grand or Petty, civil or criminal, should not be 
restrained in future to native citizens, or such as were citizens at the date of 
the Treaty of Peace which closed our revolutionary^ war ; and whether 
ignorance of our laws, and natural partiality to the countries of their birth, are 



WITH F0R1IGNISM. 47 

not reasonable causes for declaring this to be one of their rights incommuni- 
cable in future to adopted citizens. — Jefferson's Writings, Vol. IX.. yaye l">;. 

Now, Sir, answer me in candor, are you not ashamed of having 
quoted Mr. Jefferson, and of having so basely misrepresented his 
position on this great American question ? Did not Mr. .Ji.ifkk- 
SON propose to carry his opposition to foreigners much farther than 
the American party now do? 

But, you vile old demagogue, though "son of a now sainted 
father," I am determined you shall not escape the indignant pow- 
ers of those "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," whom you 
have wickedly sought to deceive. It is known to you, and to the 
world, in what veneration all American Democrats hold the Vir- 
ginia Resolutions of 1798 and '99, and the fame of*Mr. Madison, 
who was the ruling spirit of that session of the Legislature. That 
Legislature passed the following Resolution, which you may find 
by consulting Henning's Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, New Series, 
page 194 : 

" That the General Assembly, nevertheless, concurring in opinion with the 
Legislature of Massachusetts that every Constitutional barrier should be 
opposed to the introduction of foreign influence into our National Councils, — 
Resolved, That the Constitution ought to be so amended that no foreigner, who 
shall have acquired the right, under our Constitution and laics, at the time of 
making the amendment, shall hereafter be eligible to the office of Senator or Rep- 
resentative, in Congress of the United States, nor to any office in the Judiciary 
or Executive. Agreed to by the Senate, Jan. 1G, 1799." 

I shall next consider two extracts from your Address, under one 
general head, relating to the temporal power of the Pope. You 
say: 

" But the genius of sophistry may fly to the rescue of Know-Xothingism, by 
pretending that it is not on account of his religion that the Catholic is to be 
excluded from oflice, but because he is subjected, not merely to the spiritual 
but the temporal dominion or jurisdiction of the Pope. No error has been 
wider spread than this." 

Again : 

"A late distinguished Senator from Georgia, (Mr. Berrien,) in a recent 
address to the public, has copied a letter of Mr. Wesley, which may require a 
few observations. That letter was dated in January, 1780. All its conclu- 
sions were founded on the assumed and popular opinion of that day, that the 
Pope did claim a civil jurisdiction beyond his own dominions — that he could 
absolve the subjects of other governments from their oaths of allegiance, and 
that there teas a principle in one of the tenets of that Church, that Catholics 
were justified in not keeping faith with heretics. Against these assumed and 
popular opinions, the Catholics of England in that day, as they now do in 
this country, were solemnly protesting." 

This is a modest way of giving Mr. Wesley the lie, but it is 
nevertheless quite direct, and is the more surprising, as it comes 
from the "son of a now sainted father," who was a follower of 



48 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Wesley, a "co-laborer of that noble band of Christian ministers" 
he was instrumental in starting out into the world — aye, the son 
of a "father who, for forty years, ministered at the altars" this 
same Wesley erected ! In holding up John Wesley as the vile 
calumniator of the Catholic Church in England, it is well enough, 
Governor, to be modest about it, and cautious in the selection of 
your words, as you are addressing a class of men who believe in 
John Wesley, as a faithful man of God, and one incapable of mis- 
representing the Catholics of England, the Pope of Home, or any 
other sect or individual ! John Wesley ministered at the sacred 
altars of religion for more than sixty years ; he had with him the 
power of God, and the witness that he pleased Him ; and the last 
words he uttered, with his hands clasped, and his eyes raised toward 
heaven, were these: " The best of all is, God is with us!" And 
yet the sons and grandsons in the gospel, of this venerated and 
sainted man of God, are insulted in Tennessee, by being told by an 
impertinent old sinner, and a vile old party hack, that he was A 
LIAR, while living, and the slanderer of the Catholic Church, now 
that he is no more! If Mr. Wesley " assumed" falsehoods in 
reference to the Romish Church in England, he either did it in 
ignorance, or with a guilty knowledge of the fact. He was a man 
of too much learning and information for his friends to get him 
out of such an indictment under a plea of ignorance. He is there- 
fore, though dead, a wilful liar, according to " Ex-Gov. A. V. 
Brown," for the Governor goes on to argue the cause against him, 
and, on page 19 of his address, quotes Catholic authority to prove 
him a liar! Shame on the "son of a now sainted father," and on 
the holy seer of Pisgah ! ! Aaron, thou priest of corrupt Demo- 
cracy, you need not endeavor to gull " bishops, elders, and other 
ministers," with your whining cant, while you thus traduce their 
great spiritual head, who, under God, taught them the lessons of 
salvation ! 

Gov. Brown, go with me, as one of the admirers of John Wes- 
ley, to the humble dwellings of the miners of Cornwall, to the homely 
tents of the colliers of Kingswood and Newcastle, and to the equally 
humble workshops of the manufacturers of Yorkshire, in England, 
who are rejoicing in God their Saviour that a Wesley was ever 
born into the world, and ask them if they believe him capable of 
slandering the Catholics ! Go with me among the backwoodsmen 
of North America, and examine them in their lone tents — go 
among the honest and virtuous settlers on our Western frontiers, 
amid the interminable forests of the far off West, whose thousands 
are brought into the fold of Christ, through the instrumentality of 
Weslcyan ministers, and ask them if they think the founder of 
their Church was a wilful liar ! 



WITH FOREIGN ISM. 40 

Go with me to the rich pastures and luxuriant harvest-fields of 
your own native Middle Tennessee : enter the neat cottages and 
stately mansions of that glorious division of our State, and ask the 
intelligent and educated females, who are rejoicing in God, in hope 
of future and eternal life, through the prayers and sermons of Wes- 
leyan ministers, as instruments in the hands of God, if they believe 
the founder of their Church was a wicked calumniator ! Go to 
the islands of the sea, to the burning sands of Africa, and ask the 
benighted converts from heathenism, through the instrumentality 
of Wesley an ministers, if they believe the venerable founder of 
their Church was a man of truth ! 

Enter the dwellings of the rich and fashionable planters of the 
South — ride around their sugar and cotton plantations, among the 
sable sons and daughters of Africa, and witness the blessed fruits 
of the pious life, Christian integrity, and triumphant death of John 
Wesley ! Come over to East Tennessee, Governor, and enter the 
log-cabins of the virtuous, happy peasantry of the "hill country," 
and ask them whether they believe Mr. Wesley or your Catholic 
authorities, touching the temporal power of the Pope of Rome ! 

Alas ! Gov. Brown, the Reformation dawned with Luther in 
Germany, but the sun of its glory rose with Methodism in England ; 
the first streaks of Protestant light were seen on the horizon of the 
sixteenth century, but the meridian sun of the Reformation dawned 
in all his brightness on the Wesleys and Whitefield ! But America 
has been the land of the glory and triumph of the doctrines of the 
man you labor to convict of the awful sin of lying ! 

But you deny that the Pope of Rome, in temporal matters, 
claims what Mr. Wesley attributed to him in the letter copied 
by Senator Berrien. You also deny that the Popes claim and have 
exercised the right to interfere with matters of government, and 
the right to absolve their followers in other countries, and under 
other governments, from their allegiance to such rulers and govern 
ments. I will proceed to vindicate Mr. Wesley, and, by the proof, 
saddle the lie on you ! Whilst John was King of England, he had 
the " Magna Charta," the great charter securing, among other 
things, the right of trial by jury, wrung from him at the point of 
the bayonet. This great charter was annulled by Pope Innocent. 
Here is the proof: 

"While the king was employed in the siege of Rochester, he received the 
pleasing intelligence, that according to his request the charter had been 
annulled hy the pontiff. Innocent, enumerating the grounds of his judgment, 
insists strongly on the violence employed by the barons. If they really felt 
themselves aggrieved, they ought, he observes, to have accepted the offer of 
redress by due course of law. They had preferred, however, to break the 
oath of fealty, which they had taken, and had appointed themselves judges to 
sit upon their lord. They knew, moreover, that John had enrolled himself 
4 



50 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

among the crusaders ; and yet they had not scrupled to violate the privileges 
which all Christian nations had granted to the champions of the cross. Lastly, 
England was become the fief of the holy see ; and they could not be igno- 
rant that if the king had the will, he had not at least the power, to give away 
the rights of the crown, without the consent of his feudal superior. He was 
therefore bound to annul the concessions which had been extorted from John, 
as having been obtained in contempt of the holy see, to the degradation of 
royalty, the disgrace of the nation, and to the impediment of the crusade. 
At the same time he wrote to the barons, re-stating his reasons, exhorting 
them to submit, requesting them to lay their claims before him in the council 
to be held at Rome ; and promising that he would induce the king to consent 
to whatever might be deemed just or reasonable, to take care that all griev- 
ances should be abolished, that the crown should be content with its just 
rights, and the clergy and people should enjoy their ancient liberties." — Lin- 
gard's History of England, vol. ii., page 71. 

Will it be said that this was not interfering with temporal mat- 
ters ? Will it be said that the right of trial by jury was a spiritual 
matter ? Will it be said that the tyranny of King John, and his 
oppressions, of which the barons justly complained, were spiritual 
matters ? No sensible advocate of Romanism will say this ! 

The next instance of an interference by the Pope in temporal 
affairs, to which I shall call your attention, Governor, is his excom- 
munication of Elizabeth, Queen of England. She was immediately 
preceded on that throne by her sister Mary, who was a Catholic. 
For no other reason than that Elizabeth was a Protestant, and would 
not submit her rights and kingdom to the control of the Pope, 
Pius V. thundered forth at her devoted head the following anathema, 
from his throne at the Vatican, situated at the foot of one of the 
seven hills upon which Rome is built : 

EXCOMMUNICATION AND DEPOSITION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH OP ENGLAND. 

"Pius, etc., for a future memorial of the matter. He that reigneth on 
high, to whom is given all power in heaven and on earth, committed one Holy, 
Catholic and Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation, to one alone 
upon the earth, Peter the Prince of the Apostles, and to Peter's successor, the 
Bishop of Rome, to be governed in fulness of power. Him alone he made 
prince over all people, and all kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, con- 
sume, plant and build, etc. But the number of the ungodly hath gotten such 
power, that there is now no place left in the whole worldwhich they have not 
essayed to corrupt with their most wicked doctrines. Amongst others, Eliza- 
beth, the pretended Queen of England, a slave of wickedness, lending thereunto 
her helping hand, with whom, as in a sanctuary, the most pernicious of all 
men have found a refuge ; this very woman having seized upon the kingdom, 
and monstrously usurping the place of the supreme Head of the Church in all 
England, and the chief authority and jurisdiction thereof, hath again brought 
back the same kingdom to miserable destruction, which was then newly 
reduced to the faith, and to good order. For having by 6trong hand inhibited 
the true religion, which Mary, the lawful queen, of famous memory, had, by 
the help of this See, restored, after it had been formerly overthrown by King 
Henry VIII., a revolter therefrom, and following and embracing the errors of 
heretics, she hath removed the royal council, consisting of the English nobility, 
and filled it with obscure men, being heretics ; hath oppressed the embracers 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 51 

of the Roman faith, hath placed impious preacher?, ministers of ini- 
quity, and abolished the sacrifice of the muss, prayers, fastings, distinction 
of meats, a single life, and the rites and ceremonies ; bath commanded hooks 
to he read in the whole realm, containing manifest heresy, etc. She hath not 
only contemned the godly requests and admonitions of princes concerning her 
healing and conversion, but also hath not so much as permitted the Nuncios 
of the See to cross the seas into England, etc. We do, therefore, out of the 
fulness of our apostolic power, declare the aforesaid Elizabeth, being heretic, 
and a favorer of heretics, and her adherents in the matter aforesaid, to have 
incurred the sentence of anathema, and to be cut oil' from the unity of the 
body of Christ. And, moreover, we do declare her to be deprived of her pre- 
tended title to the kingdom aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privi- 
lege whatsoever; and also the nobility, subjects, and people of the said king- 
dom, and all others which have in any sort sworn unto her, to be for ever 
absolved from any such oath, and all manner of duty or dominion, allegiance 
and obedience; as we also do, by the authority of these presents, absolve 
them, and do deprive the same Elizabeth of her pretended title to the king- 
dom, and all other things aforesaid. And we do command and interdict all 
and every one of the noblemen, subjects, people, and others aforesaid, that 
they presume not to obey her, or her admonitions, mandates, and laws; and 
those who shall do the contrary, we do innodate with the like sentence of 
ANATHEMA. 

" Given at St. Peter's at Rome, in the year 1569, and the fifth of our pon- 
tificate." — Dowling's History of Romanism, p. 564. 

One more : Sixtus V. thunders his bull of excommunication 
at this same Queen of England — incites Philip of Catholic Spain 
to make war against her country — and graciously gives the British 
Isles to Philip ! Here is the bull of Pope Sixtus : 

"We, Sixtus the Fifth, the universal shepherd of the flock of Christ, the 
supreme chief, to whom the government of the whole world appertains, con- 
sidering that the people of England and Ireland, after having been so long 
celebrated for their virtues, their religion, and their submission to our see, 
have become putrid members, infected, and capable of corrupting the whole 
Christian body, and on account of their subjection to the impious, tyrannical, 
and sanguinary government of Elizabeth, the bastard queen, and by the influ- 
ence of her adherents, who equal her in wickedness ; and who refuse, like her, 
to recognize the power of the Roman Church : regarding that Henry VIII. 
formerly, for motives of debauchery, commenced all these disorders by revolt- 
ing against the submission which he owed to the Pope, the sole and true sov- 
ereign of England ; considering that the usurper Elizabeth has followed the 
path of this infamous king, we declare that there exists but one mode of 
remedying these evils, of restoring peace, tranquillity, and union to Christen- 
dom, of re-establishing religion, and of leading back the people to obedience 
to us, which is, to depose from the throne that execrable Elizabeth, who falsely 
arrogates to herself the title of Queen of the British Isles. Being then 
inspired by the Holy Spirit for the general good of the Church, we renew, by 
the virtue of our apostolic power, the sentence pronounced by our predecessor, 
Pius the Fifth and Gregory the Thirteenth, against the modern Jezebel: we 
proclaim her deprived of her royal authority, of the rights, titles, or preten- 
sions to which she may lay claim over the kingdoms of Ireland and England, 
affirming that she possesses them unlawfully and by usurpation. We relieve 
all her subjects from the oaths they may have taken to her, and we prohibit 
them from rendering any kind of service to this execrable woman ; it is our 
will, that she be driven from door to door like one possessed of a devil, and 



52 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

that all human aid be refused her; we declare, moreover, that foreigners or 
Englishmen are permitted, as a meritorious work, to seize the person of 
Elizabeth and .surrender her, living or dead, to the tribunals of the inquisi- 
tion. We promise to those who shall accomplish this glorious mission, infinite 
recompenses, not only in the life eternal, but even in this world. Finally, we 
grant plenary indulgence to the faithful who shall willingly unite with the 
Catholic army which is going to combat the impious Elizabeth, under the 
orders of our dear son Philip the Second, to whom we give the British Isles 
in full sovereignty, as a recompense for the zeal he has always shown toward 
our see, and for the particular affection he has shown for the Catholics of the 
Low Country." — Be Cormenin's History of the Popes, p. 262. 

Here is what Macaulay, a reliable historian, says of the baneful 
effects of Romanism : 

" From the time when the barbarians overran the Western Empire to the 
time of the revival of letters, the influence of the Church of Rome has been 
generally favorable to science, to civilization, and to good government. But, 
during the last three centuries, to stunt the growth of the human mind has 
been her chief object. Throughout Christendom, whatever advance has been 
made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth, and in the arts of life, has been 
made in spite of her, and has everywhere been in inverse proportion to her 
power. The loveliest and most fertile provinces of Europe have, under her 
rule, been sunk into poverty, in political servitude, and in intellectual torpor, 
while Protestant countries, once proverbial for sterility and barbarism, have 
been turned, by skill and industry, into gardens, and can boast of a long list 
of heroes and statesmen, philosophers and poets. AVhoever, knowing what 
Italy and Scotland naturally are, and what four hundred years ago they 
naturally were, shall now compare the country round Rome with the country 
round Edinburgh, will be able to form some judgment of the tendency^ of 
Papal domination. The descent of Spain, once the first among monarchies, 
to the lowest depths of degradation, the elevation of Holland, in spite of 
many natural disadvantages, to a position such as no commonwealth so small 
has ever reached, teach the same lesson. Whoever passes, in Germany, from 
a Roman Catholic to a Protestant principality, in Switzerland from a Roman 
Catholic to a Protestant canton, in Ireland from a Roman Catholic to a Pro- 
testant county, finds that he has passed from a lower to a higher grade of 
civilization. On the other side of the Atlantic the same law prevails. The 
Protestants of the United States have left far behind the Roman Catholics of 
Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. The Roman Catholics of Lower Canada remain 
inert, while the whole continent round them is in a ferment with Protestant 
activity and enterprise." — Macaulay' s History of England, vol. i., p. 37. 

I must be permitted to add, just here, that in 1848, when the 
people of France expelled Louis Philippe from the throne in Paris, 
and established a Republic, the present old drunken, goutified 
debauchee, Pope Pius IX., hurled at the French nation a fearful 
bull of excommunication, and denied them the right of revolution ! 
Was this interfering in temporal matters ? But no longer ago 
than the year 1854, this same old vagabond, Pope Pius, issued 
orders absolving his followers from all allegiance to the Sardinian 
• Jovernment, because that government chose to abolish the infamous 
monasteries, which had been so long supported at the expense of 
an oppressed people ! Was this not interfering in temporal mat- 



WITH FOREIGN ISM. 58 

ters? I could multiply authorities, Governor, to an indefinite ex- 
tent, sustaining Mr. Wesley's views, and falsifying all you say, but 
this would swell ray reply beyond what I intended in the outset. 
Let me call your attention to Brownson's Review, for July, 185o, 
where you will find all this power, and even more, claimed for the 
Pope, over temporal sovereigns and their subjects, the world over I 
This Revietv is the acknowledged organ of Archbishop Hughe*, the 
head and front of the Catholic Church in North America. 

You state that our Declaration of Independence absolved from 
every possible obligation to the Pope in temporal matters. Your 
language is : 

" The moment it was read and proclaimed from old Independence Hall in 
Philadelphia, obedience in temporal matters, if it ever existed, ceased forever, 
as to every native-born son in America." 

You further add that the Constitution of the United States set 
aside all temporal power of the Pope in this country, and that if 
any doubts remain, the finishing touch is given by the following 
oath of naturalization, taken by our naturalized citizens : 

"I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the Uniied 
State?, and that I do absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance 
and iidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, or state, or sovereignty whatever." 

Sir, do you suppose that the " Bishops, Elders, and other Minis- 
ters," whom you have the impudence to address, are all fools? 
Do you suppose they are men of no reading or information ? If 
they know any thing, they certainly know that the oath of natural- 
ization they, the Catholics, take, weighs no more with them than a 
feather. A Catholic can evade the force of any oath, by a mental 
reservation. Here is what Sanchez says, the very highest Catholic- 
authority, whose teaching, including this interpretation of oaths, 
has been endorsed by the Council of Trent : 

"It is lawful to use ambiguous terms to give the impression a different t-en.sr 
from that which you understand yourself. A person may take an oath that 
he has not done such a thing, though in fact he has, by saying to himself it 
was not done on a certain day, or before he was born, or by concealing any 
other similar circumstances ; which gives another meaning to it. This \h 
extremely convenient, and always very just, when necessary to your health, 
honor, or prosperity." 

In addition to this, let me tell you, if you never before knew the 
fact, that Judge Gaston, a distinguished Jurist, and a gentleman 
of excellent character, though a rigid Roman Catholic, of North 
Carolina, was appointed to a seat upon the Supreme Bench of that 
State. The Constitution of that State, unlike those of almost all 
other States, requires every Judge to take an oath, among other 
things, that he believes in the truth oe the Protestant Reli- 



54 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

gion. Mr. Gaston asked time to think over the matter — he repaired 
to the Archbishop at Baltimore, doubtless obtained a dispensation — 
■wrote back to Raleigh from there, that he would take the oath — 
returned, and in due time solemnly swore that lie believed in the 
truth of the Protestant Religion. He died in Raleigh, one of 
the Jttdges of the Supreme Court — but lived and died a Roman 
Catholic"! 

During the past month, in this city, W. G. McAdoo, the Attorney 
General for this Judicial Circuit, had some Irish Catholics brought 
before the Grand Jury, to testify in cases of unlawful gaming and 
the retailing of ardent spirits. The Clerk swore them on a com- 
mon English Testament, and they returned to the Jury room, and 
testified that they knew of no cases ! The Attorney for the Com- 
monwealth then procured the Catholic Douay Bible, with a large Cross 
upon its outside, swore them upon this — sent them in, and they 
disgorged, telling of various cases, and enabling the Jury to find 
bills against even some of their own folks ! An oath, then, is 
nothing with strict Roman Catholics, who believe their Priests can 
absolve them from the obligations of any and all oaths. For not- 
withstanding your denial of the fact, it is notoriously true, that the 
members of the Catholic Church believe their Priesthood to exer- 
cise, by Divine right, the power to fix and determine their eternal 
destiny. Nay, every Roman Catholic in the known world is under the 
absolute control of the Catholic Priesthood, by considerations not 
only of a temporal, but an eternal weight. This is what gives 
their Priesthood such power and influence in elections ; an influence 
they are using in every State, against the American party. And 
it is this faculty of concentration, this political influence, this power 
of the Priesthood to control the Catholic community, and cause a 
vast multitude of ignorant foreigners to vote as a unit, and thus 
control the will of the American people, that has engendered this 
opposition to the Catholic Church. It is this aggressive policy and 
corrupting tendency of the Romish Church ; this organized and 
concentrated political power of a distinct class of men ; foreign by 
birth ; inferior in intelligence and virtue to the American people, 
and not their religion and form of worship, objectionable as these 
are known to be, which have called forth the opposition of the 
American party to the Catholic Church. 

But, sir, you occupy several pages in copying and commenting 
upon the several oaths administered to the members of the Ameri- 
can party — oaths which, as you tell us, are revolting in their char- 
acter, and lead to the indiscriminate proscription of all foreigners. I 
meet all your conjectures and wild speculations in reference to these 
several oaths and obligations, by saying, just here, that I have taken 
them all, and that they express my sentiments and feelings to the 



WITII FOREIGNISM. SS 

very letter; and I am willing, for the remainder of my days, to go 
before an acting Justice of the Peace, for the county of Knox, and 
have all three of these oaths administered every Monday morning, 
upon the "Holy Bible and Cross." 

You have failed, in your zeal to advocate Romanism and oppose the 
American party, to tell the "Bishops, Elders, and oilier Ministers," 
"whom you address, that we resort to our oaths and old igat ions to com- 
bat successfully the most powerful oath-bound organization the world 
ever knew. The oath of every Roman Catholic Bishop and Arch- 
bishop binds him to absolute and unquestioned obedience, not only 
to the present Pope but to his successors, " canonically coming in," 
and to "oppose and persecute" all who do not submit to his autho- 
rity ! The oath of every Priest binds him to the Church of Rome 
" as the chief head and matron above all pretended Churches 
throughout the whole earth," and to "further her interests more 
than his own earthly good." The oath of the Jesuit binds him to 
the Pope, as "Christ's Vicar-General," by "all the saints and 
hosts of heaven," and to " denounce and disown any allegiance as 
due to Protestants, or obedience to any of their inferior magistrates 
or officers." The oath of the San Fedisti, a secret Order estab- 
lished by the Papal government in 1821, binds them to sustain 
"the Papal altar and throne, and to exterminate heretics, without 
pity for the cries of children, or of men and women." The oath of 
the Irish Ribbon Men, an Order established by the Papal govern- 
ment, and introduced into this country by Bedini, the Pope's 
Nuncio, but a few years ago, binds him "to extirpate all heretic-. 
and all the Protestants, and to walk in their blood to the knees." 
Is it not time to take the alarm, Governor, and to combine to resist 
all these secret oath-bound associations, which now threaten us with 
the loss of all that freemen and Protestant Christians hold dear on 
earth ? 

It is a matter of utter astonishment to find a great political party 
in this country, most of whom are native-born Protestants, taking 
sides with a foreign Church, whose designs against this country, 
according to the avowals of the Duke of Richmond, lately Gov- 
ernor-General of Canada, are of the most wicked and fearful char- 
acter ! Speaking of this government, the Duke said in a public 
address, on our northern border : 

" It will be destroyed : it ought not, and will not be permitted to exist. The 
curse of the French revolution, and subsequent wars and commotions in Eu- 
rope, are to be attributed to its example; and so long as it exists, no prince 
will be safe upon his throne; and the sovereigns of Europe are awan of it, 
and they have determined upon its destruction, and haw come to <m understand- 
ing upon this subject, and have decided on the means to accomplish if ; and they 
will eventually succeed, by SUBVERSION rather than conquest. All the low 
and surplus population of the different nations of Europe will be carried into 



56 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

that country. It is and will be a receptacle for the bad and disaffected popu- 
lation of Europe, when they are not wanted for soldiers, or to supply the 
navies ; and the governments of Europe will favor such a course. This will 
create a surplus and majority of low population, who are so very easily ex- 
cited ; and they will bring with them their principles, and in nine cases out of 
ten adhere to their ancient and former governments, laws, manners, customs, 
and religion, and will transmit them to their posterity ; and in many cases 
propagate them among the natives. These men will become citizens, and by 
the Constitution and laws will be invested with the right of suffrage. Hence, 
iliscord, dissension, anarchy, and civil war will ensue ; and some popular indi- 
vidual will assume the government, and restore order, and the sovereigns of 
Europe, the emigrants, and many of the natives, will sustain him. The Church 
of Rome has a design upon that country ; and it will in time be the established 
religion, and will aid in the destruction of that Republic. / have conversed 
with many of the sovereigns and princes of Europe ; and they have unanimously 
expressed these opinions relative to the government of the United States, and their 
determination to subvert it." 

The rnonarchs of Europe, says the Duke of Richmond, will aid 
in sending us a surplus of "low, excitable, bad, and disaffected 
men," who will bring with them their principles, and will adhere 
to their foreign notions of government, laws, manners, customs, and 
religion — and that religion Catholic ; and yet you, the " son of a 
now sainted father," of Protestant raising, have the brazen effron- 
tery to call upon the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of 
an American Protestant Church to aid you, your corrupt party, 
and the rnonarchs of Europe, in destroying both our government 
and Church ! 

Sir, it is passing strange that Protestant Christians and their 
children should be found side by side with you, Bishop Hughes, 
Gov. Johnson, and the thousands of bad men who are seeking to 
build up a Roman Hierarchy in this free country of ours ! What 
do you promise the country and yourselves, if Romanism proves 
successful in this contest ? The history of the past informs us that 
Rome has slain 1,000,000 of Albigenses and Waldenses ; 1,500,000 
Jews, in Spain ; 3,000,000 Moors, in Spain. France will never 
forget St. Bartholomew's Night, when 100,000 souls perished in 
Paris alone ! The blood of Protestants has fertilized the soil of 
England, Germany, and Ireland. I mean by this, that enough of 
Protestant blood has been shed to enrich all the poor lands of 
England, Germany, and Ireland, if it were properly distributed. 
In all, the authentic records of the Romish Church show, (and of 
this she makes her boast,) that she has put to death SIXTY- 
EIGHT MILLIONS of human beings, for no other offence than 
that of being Protectants in their religious faith ! Average each 
person slain at four gallons of blood, and medical writers say a 
healthy persson yields more, and it makes TWO HUNDRED 
AND SEVENTY-TWO MILLIONS OF GALLONS !— enough 



WITII FOREIGNISM. 57 

to overflow the banks of the Mississippi, ami destroy all the cotton 
and sugar plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana! 

But you argue, in your blasphemous publication, that this is no 
longer a characteristic of the Romish Hierarchy. Why is it not? 
Has she ever ohanged for the bettor? When did she ever renounce 
these doctrines and practices ? Never, no, never ! Hers is the 
same tyrannical system now — where she has the power — that it 
always has been, and always must be, in the very nature of things ! 
It is her boast, and the boast of her standard authors, that she is 
always right, and knows no change ! And wo to this land of ours, 
if ever Rome gets the ascendancy here ! Her whole system is ad- 
verse to our Republican institutions, and she hesitates not to 
declare it ! Broivnson says in his Review : 

" Let us dare to assert the "truth in the face of the lying world, and, instead 
of pleading for our Church at the bar of the State, summon the State itself to 
plead at the bar of the Church, its divinely constituted judge." 

No wonder, sir, that the American people are aroused ! Such 
bold and startling avowals are calculated to arouse and unite the 
somewhat divided bands of Protestant Christians ; to wake up a 
host of Luthers, Calvins, Cranmers, and Wesleys ; to bind together 
"the heretics condemned in a mass." The very latest thing I 
have seen is the "Pastoral Letter" of the Bishops of the Province 
of St. Louis, just issued. That document explicitly says : 

"We maintain the superiority of the spiritual over the temporal order. We 
maintain that the ^temporal ruler is bound to conform his enactments to the 
Divine law. We maintain that the Church is the supreme judge of all ques- 
tions concerning faith and morals ; and that in the determination of such 
question, the Roman Pontiff, Vicar of Jesus Christ, constitutes a tribunal from 
which there is no appeal ; and to whose award all the children of the Church 
must yield obedience." 

Now, sir, after this authoritative and official announcement, I 
don't want to see any more of your wire-drawn distinctions between 
spiritual and temporal allegiance to the Pope. These Bishops say 
that both are alike binding. Nor do I want to see any more of 
your malignant efforts to fix the lie upon Mr. Wesley, for affirming 
in Europe, during the past century, what the Bishops of the United 
States have announced, in a Pastoral Address, in the present day ! 

Pope Pius IX. has, by a special act, made the Virgin Mary the 
special patron of these United States ; but the Protestants of this 
country have also made a decree, and that decree is, that Jesus 
Christ, and not the Virgin Mary, shall be the patron of these 
United States. 

And I am happy to have it in my power to inform you, notwith- 
standing the influence of your Address, that the " Bishops, Elders, 
and other Ministers" of the Methodist Church, both North and 



58 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

South, arc ready to make a common, determined, prayerful effort 
to save our native land from the threatened slavery of submission 
to the decisions of the Council of Trent, and the equally corrupt 
conventions of Progressive Democracy ! 

Assuming what is notoriously false — that the Know Nothings 
are in favor of all measures fatal to the South, and destructive to 
the Constitution — you ask on page 25 of your infinitely infernal 
Address : 

" What if a proposition be pending to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law — the 
Kansas and Nebraska law — the rejection of a State asking admission into the 
Union, because its constitution may tolerate slavery t" 

You know, sir, that the 12th Plank in the Philadelphia Platform 
of the American party is a safer guaranty upon this slavery ques- 
tion, and the perpetuity of existing laws, than is to be found any- 
where in the creeds of political parties. Here it is in full : 

" The American party having arisen upon the ruins, and in spite of the 
opposition of the Whig and Democratic parties, can not be held in any man- 
ner responsible for the obnoxious acts or violated pledges of either ; and the 
systematic agitation of the slavery question by those parties having elevated 
sectional hostility into a positive element of political power, and brought our 
institutions into peril, it has therefore become the imperative duty of the 
American party to interpose, for the purpose of giving peace to the country, 
and perpetuity to the Union. And as experience has shown it impossible to 
reconcile opinions so extreme as those which separate the disputants, and as 
there can be no dishonor in submitting to the laws, the National Council has 
deemed it the best guaranty of common justice and of future peace, to abide 
by and maintain the existing laws upon the subject of slavery, as a final and 
conclusive settlement of that subject in spirit and in substance. 

"And regarding it the highest duty to avow their opinions upon a subject 
so important, in distinct and unequivocal terms, it is hereby declared as the 
sense of this National Council, that Congress possesses no power, under the 
Constitution, to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the States where it 
does or may exist, or to exclude any State from admission into the Union, 
because its Constitution does or does not recognize the institution of slavery 
as a part of its social system ; and expressly pretermitting any expression of 
opinion upon the power of Congress to establish or prohibit slavery in any 
Territory, it is the sense of the National Council that Congress ought not to 
legislate upon the subject of slavery within the Territories of the United 
States, and that any interference by Congress with slavery as it exists in the 
District of Columbia, would be a violation of the spirit and intention of the 
compact by which the State of Maryland ceded the District to the United 
States, and a breach of the national faith." 

In the "wild hunt" for territory by the progressive Democracy, 
and their efforts to settle our Western lands with foreigners who are 
to a man Free Soilers and Abolitionists, the South has more to 
fear than from all other considerations. What is Gov. Johnson's 
iniquitous Homestead Bill, but a bid for foreigners ? He proposes 
to give to the heads of families one hundred and sixty acres of 



AVI Til FOUKH'.NISM. OX 

land, thus hiring all the convicts ami paupers of Europe I" come 
and Bettle in our Western States and Territories! Sir. but let 

your progressive, Buhlimated, double-distilled, converging-lines, 
Johnsonian Democracy bring into this Union one million of Spanish 

Papists — black, brown, sorrel, and tawny — under the guise of 
acquiring Cuba for the South : let them bring eight hundred 
thousand French and English Papists, under the name of acquiring 
Canada lor the North: let them bring two millions of Mexican 
Papists — brown, tawny, red and black, being a mixture of all 
colors and all nations — under the specious pretence of "extending 
the area of freedom" — let all this be done — and your party, made 
up of native traitors, and foreign vagabonds, and Catholic paupers, 
are aiming at it — let it be done, I say, and farewell to liberty, and 
all that is sacred in this country ! With five millions of Papists 
in our midst — four millions and a half being of foreign birth, and 
four millions speaking a foreign language — all taught from infancy 
to hate and detest Protestantism as a crime — an American party 
would become an absolute political necessity. Well do the Free Soil 
papers comprehend this matter. Hear the infamous but influential 
Chicago Tribune, one of your Douglass organs — one of your foreign 
Catholic organs. I quote from the paper itself : 

"It is now a well-attested fact, that Atchison is a member of the Superior 
Order of the Spangled Banner, or Know Nothings, and that his infernal vil- 
lainy in Kansas has been carried on under the protection and patronage of the 
lodg'es in Western Missouri. This is a matter that all men in the North 
should understand, that Northern voters may be exceedingly cautious how 
they give countenance or support to an Order that, in any of its phases or 
localities, is capable of producing such results. It is further said, that the 
members of that Kansas Legislature, now outraging all sense of right and 
justice by their devilish enactments, are the chosen men of the affiliated Know 
Nothings in .Missouri and Kansas, who back them up in whatever tiling they 
do. Atchison and bis gang are the friends qf the Order, and through it and 
Southern Know Nothing support they are sure that their efforts to establish a 
despotism in the Territory, if necessary, at the point of the bayonet, will be 
successful. These facts account for many things heretofore inexplicable, and 
they develop the true reason of the hostility of the border-ruffians to the 
foreign immigration that would, under other circumstances, people that vast 
and fertile country west of the Missouri." 

Thus it appears that a host of lousy foreigners, fresh from the 
emigrant ships, in which they are brought over to this country as 
ballast — having the right to vote conferred upon them by an in- 
famous progressive Democratic feature in the Kansas Bill, were 
expected to get the control of affairs in Kansas. It further 
appears, however, that Senator Atchison and his pro-slavery asso- 
ciates supposed that, though fresh from their farms, and crossing 
the line of their State into the new Territory, they too had the 
right to vote without being naturalized in Kansas. Hence, in the 



60 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

estimation of this Sag Nicht organ at Chicago, a great outrage is 
committed upon Germany, Ireland, and Italy ! 

Sir, you need not lay the flattering unction to your soul, that 
you can drive the clergy generally from the noble stand they have 
taken upon this great question. Nor need you suppose, for one 
moment, that the American party are conquered, though defeated 
in several States in the recent elections. The party Avill remain 
true to its ends. Though it fail to command office, it cannot fail 
to exercise large power. Office is not always strength ; but some- 
times, nay, frequently, as in the case of the present Adminis- 
tration, weakness, as time will prove ! The aim of the American 
party is, by fair party means, to correct a great social evil and 
political wrong ; and if they cannot do that, to mitigate the evil 
and the wrong : if they cannot do that, to prevent its further in- 
crease ; and if neither can be done, why, then I confess to you, 
the party will have failed. But, sir, if such a failure take place, 
rest assured that the "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers" of the 
Methodist Church, South, will not help to bring about such a fail- 
ure ! We can afford to let such minions of party as you are, rave 
and rant, and publish their expositions, and issue their Avarnings to 
Churches : they will all serve to swell our ranks. All true Amer- 
ican hearts, not chained to the car of party, or bound down by the 
cords of plunder, think alike upon the great questions that have 
called the American party into existence. Little do we regard the 
slanders of the pensioners of party. Let their speeches and publi- 
cations teem with wholesale slanders of our creed : the political 
jockeyism of these thimble-riggers, as in your own case, is too 
apparent ! 

From Maine to the shores of the Pacific the country is convulsed 
with intense excitement upon this subject. Shall Americans govern 
themselves, or shall Foreigners, unacquainted with our laws, and 
brought up under monarchical governments, rule ? Shall those who 
are temporally and spiritually subject to a foreign prince be our 
legislators, post-masters, foreign ministers, and military leaders, 
and change our laws as they are directed by the Pope of Rome ? 
Such results the American party have set out to prevent. The 
present excitement will not cease ; true Americans and Protestants 
will labor and pray until our distracted country shall be redeemed 
from the influence of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. 

Now, Governor, I have noticed all your charges, arguments, and 
appeals, but one, and that is the allegation that Methodist clerical 
Know Nothings are conspirators. Your argument is — and I wish 
to represent you correctly — " The offence of conspiracy is not con- 
fined to the prejudicing of a particular individual ; it may be to 
injure public trade, to affect public health, or to violate public 
policy " 



WITH FOREIONISM. 61 

You cite Blackstone's Commentary, and other English Law 
Books, to satisfy the Clergy as to the laic of conspiracy. This 
done, you overwhelm them with this sage and logical conclusion : 

"The gist of the offence of conspiracy consists in a confederacy to <1" an un- 
lawful act, and the offence is complete when the confederacy LB made." 

I will concede, for the sake of the argument, that this is sound 
law, and that yours is a logical deduction. Nay, I will concede 
more — I grant that it is an unlawful act for native Americans, and 
Protestant Christians, whether ministers or laymen, to resolve, or 
swear, as we Know Nothings have all done, that we will not vote 
for Catholics and Foreigners for puhlic offices ! I take the ground 
you do, that a man's vote is not his own, and that it is only to be 
disposed of by the leaders of the party with which he may act ! 

And now, if you and I, both great men, and Doctors of Laiv, 
are correct in laying down the law, and the privilege, of voters in 
this free country, what an infamous body of conspirators the Demo- 
crats arc, and have always been ! For a quarter of a century, they 
have conspired to keep the Whigs out of office— have succeeded in 
doing so most of that time — and have kept thousands of them who 
are poor from becoming rich ! More recently, they have conspired 
with Abolitionists, Free Soilers, Fourierites, Spiritualists, Roman 
Catholics, Irish, French, and German paupers, and all manner of 
European convicts, to keep the American party out of office, and 
have succeeded in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, and other States — thereby 
depriving the Americans of "lots" of money and honors, both of 
which they need, and both of which are their birthrights I 

The "Bishops, Elders, and other Ministers," whom you address, 
in opposition to the great sin of conspiracy, would more cheerfully 
unite with you to enforce laAV and order, and to prosecute offenders, 
but for the fact that the Abolition iving of your party once con- 
spired against them, to deprive their wives, children, widows, and 
orphans, of their lawful portion of the great Book Concern in New 
York, and they were compelled to punish the conspirators, at great 
expense, however, in the District and Supreme Courts of the United 
States ! 

But, Sir, upon the subject of oaths, you are eloquent, apt in your 
quotations of Scripture, and evince great learning in the legal pro- 
fession ! You charge that "Know Nothingism is both unchristian 
and unlawful, because of its oaths, which have no Scripture warrant 
for their administration !" One of your quotations from the Bible 
is this : " Swear not at all : neither by heaven, for it is God's 
throne: nor by the earth, for it is his footstool." Your mind has 
undergone a great change upon the subject of oaths and hard 



62 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

swearing, since the 21st of June, 1845, when you delivered your 
celebrated "Mount Pisgah" speech at Athens. You then advised 
the people of the State to administer "horrible oaths," and to 
swear by the "heavens," aye, "God's throne." But then you 
were a Know Nothing. Here is what you say in your revised copy 
of that memorable speech : 

" Go up -with me in imagination and stand for awhile on some lofty summit 
of the Rocky Mountains. Let us take one ravishing view of this broad land of 
liberty. Turn your face toward the Gulf of Mexico: what do you behold? 
Instead of one lone star faintly shining in the far distant south, a whole galaxy 
of stars of the first magnitude are bursting on your vision and shining with a 
bright and glorious effulgence. Now turn with me to the west — the mighty 
west — where the setting sun dips her disk in the western ocean. Look away 
down through the misty distance to the shores of the Pacific, with all its bays, 
and harbors, and rivers. Cast your eyes as far as the Russian Possessions, in 
latitude fifty-four degrees and forty minutes. What a new world lies before 
you ! How many magnificent States to be the future homes of the sons and 
daughters of freedom ! But you have not gazed on half this glorious country. 
Turn now your face to the east, where the morning sun first shines on this 
land of liberty. Away yonder, you see the immortal old thirteen, who 
achieved our independence ; nearer to us lie the twelve or fifteen States of the 
great valley of the Mississippi, stretching and reposing like so many giants in 
their slumbers. ! now I see your heart is full — it can take in no more. Who 
now feels like he was a party man, or a southern man, or a northern man ? 
Who does not feel that he is an American, and thankful to Heaven that his 
lot was cast in such a goodly land ? When did mental vision ever rest on 
such a scene? Moses, when standing on the top of Mount Pisgah, looking 
over on the promised land, gazed not on a scene half so lovely. ! let us this 
day vow that whatever else we may do, by whatever name we may be called, 
we will never surrender one square acre of this goodly heritage to the dicta- 
tion of any king or potentate on earth. Swear it ! swear it ! my country- 
men, and let Heaven record the vow for ever !" 

In conclusion, Governor, suffer a few words of advice, and I will 
bring this letter, already too long, to a close. You are advanced 
in years, nay, you have grown gray in the service of sin, and poli- 
tical intrigues ; and at most you have not long to live. Cease your 
political aspirations, and turn your attention to future and eternal 
things ! You have been a member of our State Legislature ; sub- 
sequently, a member of Congress ; and more recently the Governor 
of our State ; honors and stations, to say the least of it, equal to 
your merits and talents ! 

As a true "son of a now sainted father," from whom you have 
been separated for many years, so demean yourself in future, that 
you may not be separated, world without end ! Humble yourself 
before God ; confess your numerous sins ; and instead of lecturing 
God's ministers upon the subject of party politics, ask them, with 
tears in your eyes, to pray for you ! Exercise a living faith in 
Christ, who came down from heaven, and made upon the cross a 
full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 63 

the sins of the whole world. Tims obtaining forgiveness, cease 
your Sunday diseussions on political subjects ; attend at the house 
of God, and set an example to other ungodly Sag Nichts, and Lead 
a new and different life ! 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. G. Brownlow, 
A Local Methodist Minister. 



64 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



GOVERNOR JOHNSON AND EDITOR EASTMAN. 

On the 9th of October, 1855, and while the Legislature was in 
session at Nashville, we delivered a speech to an immense crowd on 
the Public Square ; which, after certain preliminary remarks, we 
will give to the public, just as it was spoken. The reason why the 
call was made on us to deliver the speech was, that we had, the 
previous weeks, delivered the same, in substance, at Shelbyville 
and Clarksville, and the American party at Nashville hearing of it, 
and approving what was said, desired us to repeat it ; and, to be 
candid, we desired to repeat it there and then ! 

Mr. Wise, of Virginia, gained great notoriety, in the spring of 
1855, by his abuse and blackguardism, heaped upon the American 
party. He was successful ; and Johnson, of Tennessee, whose am- 
bition was to gain a more infamous notoriety, profiting by the 
example of Wise, plunged into the lowest depths of Billings- 
gate, and piled his vulgar epithets upon the party indiscriminately. 
Wise, then, like all inventors and originators, has had numerous 
imitators, and among the most successful of these are Johnson, of 
Tennessee ; Stephens, of Georgia ; and Clingman, of North Caro- 
lina. But as an adept in low Billingsgate slang, coarse black- 
guardism, and as a slanderer and maligner of better men than him- 
self, Johnson has excelled his patron, Wise, and left far in the 
shades of the distant caverns of abuse, both Stephens and Cling- 
man ! 

To prepare the public mind for the degree of severity we used 
in reference to the Governor of the State, we will introduce as 
many as five different extracts from his speeches, in his late canvass 
for Governor, at Murfreesboro' and Manchester; as reported by 
his partisan organ, the Nashville Union, and his pliant tool, its 
Abolition editor, E. Gf-. Eastman: 

"The Devil, ni.s Satanic Majesty, the Prince of Darkness, who pre- 
sides OVER THE SECRET CONCLAVE HELD IN PANDEMONIUM, MAKES WAR UPON ALL 
BRANCHES OF CHRIST'S ChCRCH. THE KNOW NOTHINGS ADVOCATE AND DEFEND 
NONE, IJUT MAKE WAR UPON ONE OF THE CHURCHES, AND THUS FAR BECOME 

THE ALLIES OF THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS."— [Speech of Andrew 
Johnson, at Murfreesboro'. 



WITH FOREIONISM. 65 

"A DENOMINATION 1.IKF. THIS, TO 8ET DP \- TRI 81 LRDIAN8 of THE RELIOIOE 
AM> KORALS 01 Till. COUNTRjl A DENOMINATION BOUND TOGETHER BT SECRE1 
and TERRIBLE OATHS: THE FIRST OF WHICH, ON THE VERT INITIATION, FIXES 

AND REQUIRES THEM Tit CARR1 A LIE IX THEIR MOUTHS."— 
[Speech of Andrew Johnson, at Murfreesboro'. 

"Snow mf. THE DIMENSIONS of a Know NOTHING, and I WILL BHOW YOU A 

HUGE REPTILE, upon whose neck the FOOT of EVERY HONEST MAN 

OUGHT TO BE PLACER." — [Sj eh of. ANDREW JOHNSON, at MaRChesfe r. 

"Tiifv ARE LIKE the Hyena, and come from tiieik lair AFTER kill NIGHT to 
trey dpon human carcasses." — [Speech of Andrew Johnson, at Manchester. 

"I WOULD AS SOON BE FOUND IN THE ('LAX OF JOHN A. ML'K- 
RELL AS IX A KNOW NOTHING COUNCIL/'— [Speech of Andrbw 
Johnson, at Manchester. 

The blackguard and calumniator using this language, was elected 
by a majority of two thousand votes : that majority being cast by 
Foreigners and illegal voters; and consequently, his competitor, 
Col. Gentry — than whom there is not a more talented, patriotic, 
and honorable gentleman in Tennessee — Avas fairly and justlv 
elected. This, then, is the language used by the Governor of 
Tennessee, towards a majority of the legal voters of the iState .' 
Under these circumstances, we made the speech that follows, to an 
immense crowd on the Square : the correspondence preceding 
which, will explain itself: 

Nashville, Oct, 10th, 1855. 
W. G. Browxlow, Esq.: 

Dear Sir: — The undersigned, having heard your speech on the Square, last 
night, respectfully request that you embody the substance of the same, and 
publish it in the Knoxville Whig. The desire to see it in print is very gene- 
ral : and those who heard it approved its severity, without it were such ac 
were bitter against the American party. 

Your friends, 

Charles G. Smith, 
• I i 'UN Morrison. 
F. M. Burton, 

ROBT. S. NoRTHCl'TT. 

Saml. Davis. 

Nashville, Oct. 13th, Li 
Messrs. Smith, Morrison*, axd others: 

Gentlemen: — Your note requesting me to publish the substance of my re- 
marks on the Square, last Tuesday night, has been received, and I would havi 
replied sooner, but for my absence at Shelbyville. I have now made the sarin 
speech at Clarksville, Nashville, and Shelbyville ; and my only regret- arc- 
that my engagements prevent me from delivering the same speech at every 
point in this State, where Gov. Johnson held mo up as the "High Priest of 
the Order," and argued therefrom the want of respectability lor the Order. 
In addition to your request, I have had verbal applications from manv 
gentlemen to publish my remarks — gentlemen who have been mild and mode- 
rate throughout their political course. I shall, therefore, comply with your 
request and theirs, at my earliest convenience. 

5 



GG AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

I h< Id that no man's position in life should shield him from the rebukes he 
may merit by his had conduct; and as for the present Governor of Tennessee, 
bis wholesale abuse of the American party, towards whose members, without 
a eingle exception, he has indulged in language which ought not to be tole- 
vithin the precincts of Billingsgate, no epithet is too low, too degrading, 
or disgraceful, to pay him back in. 

Respectfully, &c, 

W. G. BROWNLOW. 



Fellow-Citizens : — The occasion which has called you together 
to-night, is the special appointment of our young friend, Mr. CroAve, 
to whose eloquence we have all listened with pleasure. I have 
made no appointment to speak here ; nor have I prompted the loud 
and long calls made upon me, this evening, by this large Nashville 
audience. I shall speak to you ; but not upon the issues of the 
late canvass, nor upon those of the approaching canvass of 1856. 
I Avill discuss Andrew Johnson and E. Gr. Eastman ; and if they 
are in the assembly, I hope they will come forward and take seats 
on this stand, that I may have the pleasure of looking them full in 
the face, as I denounce them in unmeasured terms : which is my 
purpose to-night, let the consequences be what they may ! 

On a memorable night in August, after it was understood that 
Andrew Johnson was reelected to the office of Governor, a proces- 
sion was formed in Knoxville, composed of the worst materials in 
that young and growing city — such as drunken, red-mouthed Irish- 
men, lousy Germans, and insolent negroes, with three or four men 
of respectable pretensions thrown in, to exercise a controlling influ- 
ence over these bad materials. This riotous mob halted in front of 
my dwelling, in East Knoxville, and groaned and sang for my 
especial benefit : all which was natural enough— as they had 
triumphed over me in the election of a Governor. I took no 
offence at their rejoicing over the election of Gov. Johnson, as I 
told them ; and for the reason, that I knew them to be of that class 
of men who would actually need the exercise of the pardoning 
power, at the hands of the present Governor, to release them from 
the penitentiary, before his present term of service would expire! 

From my humble dwelling, this beautiful procession marched to 
the Coleman House, on Gay street, yelling like devils, and insult- 
ing the inmates of every house they passed. "Huzza for Andy 
MeJohnson !" exclaimed one. "Three cheers for Andy 'John- 
son !" exclaimed another. While, to cap the climax — " Well done, 
my Johnsing and the White Bastard,'" (meaning Basis,) exclaimed 
a drunken negro ! Halting in front of the Coleman House, the 
Governor elect mounted a goods box, and under feelings of great 
excitement, hatred, and malice, delivered a speech abusive of the 
whole American party, excepting none, in coarse, bitter language, 



WITH FOREIGNISM. <J7 

in a style peculiarly hia own — adapted alone to the fonl pre» 

of Billingsgate — rounding his periods with a diabolical and infernal 

grin, alone suited to a display of oratory by a land pirate . 

1 reported this Blanderous speech — not in as offensive style — as it 
was delivered ; for hia looks and grins no man can report on paper. 
I also wrote the Bubstance of what he said to Major Donelson, in a 

letter, of which I shall have something more to say before 1 leave 
this stand. Just here, T will repeat -what the Governor di 
and what I reported him to have said in my paper. I wish this 
large audience to hear me distinctly, and to recollect the points I 
make ; for I shall wind up on the Governor and his miserable tool, 
East man, with a degree of severity you have not been accust >med 
to, but which -hall be warranted by the facts in each case. 

Gov. Johnson said this new party of self-styled Americana pro- 
fessed to have organized with a view to purify and reform the old 
political parties. A beautiful set, said he, to reform ! The Order 
of Know Nothings was composed of the worst men in the Whig 
and Democratic parties. As a sample of these men, he pointed 
out Andrew J. Donelson, -hj name — exclaiming as often as twice, 
Wlio is Andrew J. Donelson? He is a soured, office-seeking, dis- 
appointed politician, who has been kicked out of the Democratic 
party. To illustrate his views more fully, he told the crowd to 
imagine a large gang of counterfeiters out there ! and an equally 
large gang of horse-thieves out yonder ! Take from these two com- 
panies the worst men in their ranks, form a third party of these, 
and you have a representation of this Know Nothing party. This 
was a beautiful party to propose reform, or to speak of other par- 
ties being corrupt ! He was interrupted repeatedly ; and I think I 
may safely say, among hands, they gave him the d — d lie fifty 
times ! James M. Davis, a respectable mechanic, asked him if he 
would say that to Major Donelson's face? He replied, that he 
heard the hissing of an adder, or a goose, and went through with 
certain stereotyped phrases you have all heard from his lips. This 
call upon him by Mr. Davis was not named in my newspaper report, 
nor in my letter to Major Donelson. Indeed, I did not anticipate 
a denial of his abuse. 

Now, fellow-citizens, it was in this connection, as Avell as in the 
most offensive language, that Gov. Johnson introduced the name of 
Andrew J. Donelson, repeating it more than once, emphasizing 
upon it, and repeating it with scorn and bitterness. This is the 
report, in substance, I made of his speech through my paper, and 
in a letter I addressed to Major Donelson. And to the truth of 
my report, there are one hundred respectable gentlemen in Knoxvillc 
who will make oath upon the Holy Bible. There are now a half- 
dozen respectable gentlemen in this crowd who were in the street at 



68 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Knoxville on that occasion, and heard every word the Governor 
said, and will sustain me in my account of it. Among these I will 
name Messrs. White and Armstrong, members of the House, Sena- 
tor Rogers, Col. James C. Luttrell, and Mr. Fleming, the editor of 
the Knoxville Register. 

Well, gentlemen — and I am proud to have an opportunity of vin- 
dicating myself before so large a Nashville audience as this is — I 
say Major Donelson came to Nashville, after receiving intelligence 
of the abuse of the Governor, and was seen walking these streets with 
a large and homely stick in his hand, looking grum, as any gentleman 
would do under the circumstances. The friends of Gov. Johnson 
seeing what would likely be the result of this affair, asked for, and 
very properly obtained that letter, with a view to laying it before 
their slanderous and abusive Executive officer, that he might lie 
out of what lie said about an honorable and brave man ; and 
thereby avoid the disgrace of a cudgelling ! Did he lie out of the 
scrape ? He did : aye, he ingloriously lied out of what he had 
said — leaving Major Donelson no ground for any difficulty with 
him: although the Major had a right to suppose that any man base 
enough to make such charges, would have no hesitancy in lying out 
of his disreputable and cowardly abuse. I therefore pronounce 
your Governor, here upon his own dunghill, an unmitigated liar 
and calumniator, and a villainous coward, wanting the nerve 
to stand up to his abuse of better men than himself ! 

But it will be said that the Governor proves me a liar, by a citi- 
zen of Nashville, who was present at Knoxville and heard his 
speech. That is so, but I prove both him and his witness liars, by 
a multitude of witnesses who were also present, and who are gentle- 
men of the first standing. But who is it that testifies that I have 
lied ? It is E. Cf. Eastman, the editor of the Sag Nicht organ in 
this city. And who is E. Gr. Eastman ? He is a dirty, lying, 
and unscrupulous Abolitionist, from Massachusetts, who once con- 
ducted an Abolitionist paper either in that State, or the State of 
New Hampshire. He was brought out to this State to lie for the 
unscrupulous leaders of his party. He is paid for telling and writ- 
ing falsehoods, and would, if the interests of his party required it, 
and a consideration were paid him in hand, swear lies as readily as 
he would write them down for publication. He is a poor devil, as 
void of truth and honor as he has shown himself to be of courage 
and resentment. He edits a low, dirty, scurrilous sheet ; and, like 
his master, Gov. Johnson, never could elevate himself above the 
level of a common blackguard. No epithet is too low, too degrad- 
ing, or disgraceful to be applied to the members of the American 
party, by either of these Billingsgate graduates. Decent men shun 
coming in contact with either of them, as they would avoid a night- 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 69 

cart, or other vehicle of filth. As some fish thrive only in dirty 
Mater, so the Nashville Union and American would not exist a week 
out of the atmosphere of slang and vituperation. A fit organ, this, 
for all who arrange themselves under the dark piratical flag of 
Andrew Johnson and his progressive Democracy. I am the more 
specific in reference to Eastman, because I understand lie is in this 
assembly ! 

But, fellow-citizens, I am not yet through with this Knoxville 
speech of the Governor. Maj. Donelson visited Knoxville, one 
month after this slanderous speech was made against him ; he visited 
there upon the invitation of the American party, to address a Mass 
Meeting. I waited upon Maj. Donelson, upon his arrival, and 
found him at the house of Doct. Curry. I told the Major that I 
was tired of having questions of veracity between me and Governors 
and Ex-Governors of Tennessee, and that I desired that others 
should state to him what had been said by the Governor. Accord- 
ingly, different gentlemen, citizens of character, informed him that 
they were in the crowd and heard Johnson, and that he did say all 
that was attributed to him, both in the letter he had received from 
me, and in the two Knoxville papers. Consequently, when Maj. 
Donelson made his speech next day, he denounced the Governor as 
a miserable calumniator, and refuted his villainous charges, in a 
manner becoming the occasion, and with a frankness which carried 
with it a conviction of its truth, and gave satisfaction to his numer- 
ous friends. 

And now, gentlemen, I take occasion to state, that there is no 
longer an adjourned question of veracity between me and Johnson 
and Eastman. The issue is between Johnson and Eastman, on the 
one hand, and various respectable gentlemen of Knoxville, on the 
other hand. Either the Governor and his man Friday have basely 
lied, or a number of the citizens of Knoxville and vicinity, have 
testified to what is false. I assert, once more, that the Governor 
and his dirty Editor have lied out of the villainous abuse the former 
heaped upon better men than himself. And if their friends are 
willing to see them remain under the charge, the American party 
are satisfied with the settlement of the question. 

Fellow-citizens, while I am on the stand, I will notice some other 
points personal to myself. And before I enter upon these, I will 
call your attention to the wholesale abuse of the Governor, of some 
thirty-five or forty thousand voters in Tennessee. In his Murfrees- 
boro' speech, he asserted that "the Devil, his Satanic Majesty, 
presides over all the secret conclaves'' 1 held by the Know Nothings, 
and that "they are the allies of the Prince of Darkness." I quote 
from his printed speeches from memory, but it will be found that I 
quote correctly. In that same speech, he asserts that all Know 



70 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Nothings are " bound by terrible oaths to fix and carry a lie in their 
mouths .' In liis Manchester speech, I believe it was, he called all 
members of the new party "Hyenas" and "huge reptiles, upon 
whose neck the feet of all honest men ought to be placed." And in 
this same speech he says he "would as soon be found in a clan 
of John A. Murrell's men, as in a Know Nothing Council !" 
What an imputation upon nearly one half of the legal voters of 
Tennessee ! He has used the most odious terms his limited know- 
ledge of the English language would enable him to employ, to de- 
ride, defame, insult, and blackguard every man who has joined the 
new party, or dares to act with them in politics. In the plenitude 
of his bitter and supercilious arrogance, Andrew Johnson has in- 
dulged in language against the entire American party, which would 
not be tolerated within the precincts of Billingsgate, or the lowest 
fish-market in London. And from Johnson to Shelby counties, 
during the entire summer, this low-flung and ill-bred scoundrel, pur- 
sued this same strain of vulgar and disgusting abuse. And whether 
speaking of the most enlightened statesman, the purest patriot, or 
the most pious clergyman, he pursued the same strain of abuse. 
With him, a vile demagogue, whose daily employment is to admin- 
ister to the very worst appetites of mankind, no virtue, no honor, 
no truth, exists anywhere, but in the breasts of such as are either 
corrupt enough or fool enough to follow him, and a few malignant 
falsifiers who worship at his shrine. He is a wretched and vile 
caterer to the morbid foreign and Catholic appetite of this country. 
"It is a dirty bird that fouls its own nest," says the proverb ; and 
it applies to this man Johnson with as much force as to the dirtiest 
of the feathered tribe. 

"Where is the wretch, so lost, so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, my native land !" 

He now disgraces the Executive Chair of this gallant State. 
Most of God's creatures, human and brute, have an attachment to 
" home, sweet home ;" but here is a contemptible and selfish dema- 
gogue who discards all such feelings, and would transfer his country 
and home to strangers and outlaws, to European paupers and crim- 
inals, if he could thereby receive a temporary election, or receive a 
pocket-full of money. For such a wretch I have no sympathy, and 
no feelings but those of scorn and contempt, and hence it is that I 
speak of him in such terms. 

On every stump in Tennessee, he held me up as "the High Priest 
of the Order," representing Col. Gentry as my candidate. Since 
I came to Middle Tennessee, I have been informed that he pointed 
to the fancied fact that I was the head of the Order, as an evidence 
of its utter want of respectability. Turning up his nose, and 



with F0RBIONI8M. 71 

grinning significantly, he would inquire, Who is William '/. 
Brotonloto .' 

Now, gentlemen, since be makes this issue of respectability with 
me, I will accept it. Since he throws down the glove, I will take 
it up, and I will shew you that he is the last man on Grod'fi g ■ < n 
earth to call in question the respectability of other men, or their 
families! It would be both cruel and unbecoming in me to Bpeak 
of what the dishonest and villainous relatives of Gov. Johnson have- 
done, if he conducted himself prudently, and did not abuse 
others with such great profusion. I am not aware of any relative 
of mine ever having been hung, sent to the penitentiary, or 1 eing 
placed in the stocks. I have no doubt that persons related to me, 
directly or remotely, have deserved such a fate long since. There 
is not a man in this vast assembly who can say. and tell the truth, 
that he has no mean kin. Can Gov. Johnson say so? Rather, 
can he say he has any other kind? He is a member of a numerous 
family of Johnsons, in North Carolina, who are generally THIEVES 
and LIARS : and though he is the best one of the family I have ever 
met with, I unhesitatingly affirm, to-night, that there arc better men 
than Andrew Johnson in our Penitentiary ! His relatives in the Old 
North State, have stood in the Stocks for crimes they have com- 
mitted. And his oivn born cousin, Madison Johnson, was hung in 
Raleigh, for murder and robbery ! I told him of this years ago, in 
Jonesboro', and he denied it, and put me to the trouble of procuring 
the testimony of Gov. John M. Morehcad to prove it ! The Gov- 
ernor was petitioned to pardon Madison Johnson, and declined, as 
he knew he suffered justly. This explains why this scape-gallows 
has been so bitter against Whig and Know Nothing Governors. 
They have been so unfeeling, as to suffer his dear relatives to puU 
hemp without foothold, when a jury of twelve honest men have Baid 
that tbey deserved death ! Is he not one of the last men living to 
talk about a want of respectability on the part of any one ? Cer- 
tainly he is ! 

Well, gentlemen, Johnson is again the Governor of Tennessee ; 
but if he could be mortified, he would have the mortification to 
know that he is the Governor with a majority of the legal native 
votes of the State cast in opposition to him. We all committed one 
capital blunder in the late canvass, ami that alone defeated Gentry, 
and elected Johnson. We copied from the Book of Pardons a list 
of FORTY-SEVEN names of culprits pardoned out of our State 
Prison by Johnson — some for negro-stealing, some for counterfeit- 
ing, house-breaking, rape, and other Democratic measures — more 
pardons than all his "illustrious predecessors" ever granted. In 
copying this list, we said to the voters of the State that Johnson 
had spoken his honest sentiments when he said he preferred being 



72 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

among a clan of Murrell men, to being found in a Know Nothing 
Council ; and in the same breath we assured them that if Gentry was 
elected, he would let all such rascals stay in prison as long as the 
courts of the country decreed they should. And while thousands of 
honorable, high-minded men voted for Johnson, under the lash of 
party, or because they were blinded by his glaring demerits, it is not 
to be disguised that all the petit larceny and Penitentiary men in 
the State voted for him. There never was a time in Tennessee when 
there were not five thousand voters who either had been stealing, 
or intended to steal ! These would naturally look to where they 
would find a friend, in the event of their being overtaken by jus- 
tice. In the person of Andrew Johnson, they felt assured of " a 
friend indeed, because a friend in need.'" He had publicly told 
them that he preferred the company of Murrell men to the society 
of the most respectable lawyers, doctors, preachers, farmers, and 
mechanics in the State, who met in certain councils. The fact of 
his turning so many Murrell men out of the State Prison, and of 
his having been raised up in such society, left no doubt of the sin- 
cerity of his profession ! 

In conclusion, fellow-citizens, if Gov. Johnson cannot lawfully 
canvass the State a third time for the office he now fills, I hope 
the Legislature will legalize such a race by a special act, and I 
propose to be the candidate against him. I will show the people 
of the State in his presence, from the same stand, who are Murrell 
men, and who are not able to look honest men in the face ! 

If I have said any thing to-night offensive to your Governor, or 
any of his friends or understrappers in this city, they know where 
to find me. When I am not on the streets, I can be found at No. 
43, on the lower floor of Sam Scott's City Hotel, opposite the 
ladies' parlor. I shall remain here for the next ten days only, 
and whatever punishment any one may wish to inflict upon me, it 
must be done in that time. I say this, not because I seek a diffi- 
culty, but because I don't intend it shall be said that I made this 
speech and took to flight ! 

I thank you, gentlemen, for the patience with which you have 
heard me in a matter personal to myself, and I hope you are pre- 
pared to acquit me of lying in the Donelson case, although Gov. 
Johnson and Editor Eastman bear testimony against me. I thank 
you, and now bid you good night ! 

We beg leave to add, that in March, 1842, Andrew Johnson 
laid hold of us in a speech in Blountville, when we were in Jones- 
borough, distant twenty miles. He held up a picture or drawing 
of us, and accompanied it with many abusive remarks. In turn, 
we held him up in the Whig of the 2&th of the same month, and 



WITH POREI&tflSM. 73 

gave his pedigree in full, and with it a representation of his cousin 
Madison Johnson, under the gallows in Raleigh ! 

The first Monday in April following, .Johnson spoke in Jones- 
borough, and denied most solemnly that he evi r had a relative oy 
the name of Madison Johnson — denied that a man of that name 
had ever been hung in Raleigh — and asserted that the man hung 
there in 1841 was by the name of Seott — a nephew, he said, of 
General W infield Scott ! This bold denial, made in the presence 
of a large and anxious crowd, overwhelmed us for (in- time 1" ing % 
as Johnson was raised in the vicinity of Raleigh, and had learned 
his trade there. He was supposed to know, and for the moment 
we were branded with falsehood. To aid him in his war upon us, 
the " Jonesborough Sentinel" Johnson's organ, came out upon us, 
and noticed his denial of our charge and his speech, in an article 
of which the following is an extract : 

" Brownlow said, some time back, that Col. Johnson had a cousin hung in 
North Carolina. The Colonel developed the fact the day he used up or 
skinned Brownlow alive in Jonesborough, that instead of its being his cousin, 
it was the nephew of Gen. Win field Scott, now a quasi Coon candidate for the 
Presidency. Brownlow is so silent!" 

After this, the Sentinel noticed us again, and this notice drew 
out Weston R. Gales, the then editor of the Raleigh Register, in 
the following : 

EDITORIAL COMPLIMENTS. 

" We find the following editorial in the ' Jonesboro' (Tenn.) Sentinel/ a 
Locofoco print, in relation to the editor of the 'Jonesboro Whig:' 

" Brownlow made an awkward attempt last week to caricature a person 
who was hung some years ago in North Carolina, whom he termed the cousin 
of Col. Johnson. But it turns out to have been the nephew of Gen. Winfield 
Scott, a distinguished Coon leader. Poor Brownlow ! — it ought to be his time 
next. Wonder how many hen-roosts he robbed last summer ?" 

"We have nothing to do with whose time it is to be hung next, nor with 
the number of hen-roosts robbed, nor by whom robbed, but we will take occa- 
sion to correct the ' Sentinel' as to the person hung here ' some years ago.' 

"In the spring of 1841, a man named Madison Johnson was hung in this 
place for the murder of Henry Beasley, but we were not aware that he was 
any relation of Col. Jounson, if it be meant thereby Col. R. M. Johnson, of 
Kentucky. He was, however, connected with A. Jounson, the candidate for 
Congress in the Jonesboro' District, Madison and he being first cousins. 

"The last man hung in this place by the name of Scott, was Mason Scott, 
in 1 820, and if the ' Sentinel' means to reflect upon the Whig party by saying 
he was a nephew of Gen. Winfield Scott, a 'distinguished Coon leader,' we 
are willing for him to indulge in such misstatements. 

" IF THE 'SENTINEL' HAD TAKKN THE TROUBLE TO CONSULT 
MR. A. JOHNSON ON THE SUBJECT, HE WOULD HAVE SATIS- 
FIED HIM OF THE FACTS, AS HE WAS IN THIS CITY ABOUT 
THE TIME MADISON WAS EXECUTED." 

It will be seen, that while Johnson was uttering his solemn but 



74 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

false denial at Jonesborough, he knew lie was lying, for lie was in 
Raleigh " about the time Madison was executed !" 

But wc told our friends to hold on, to have patience, and to give 
us time, and we would make good our charge. Accordingly, in 
the same issue in which wc brought out this extract from the 
Raleigh Register, wc published the following letter from Gov. 
Moreiiead, in answer to one we had written him: 

Raleigh, 24th April, 1843. 

[Executive Office.] 
" Dear Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 
14th inst., requesting me to inform you what was the name of the man hung 
in Raleigh in the spring of 1841. 

"His name was MADISON JOHNSON. His case was taken to the 
Supreme Court, and you will find it reported, December Term, 1840, vol. 1st, 
page 354, Iredell's Reports. 

" He was hung for the murder of Henry Bcasley. A strong effort was 
made to procure a pardon for him ; but believing his case a clear murder, I 
refused to grant it. 

"The only man named Scott that was ever convicted of murder at this 
place, was Mason Scott, in 1820. 

" You will find his case reported in the reports of the Supreme Court, Janu- 
ary Term, 1820, 1st Stark's Reports, page 24. 

" I am not aware that any other man named Scott was ever convicted of a 
capital offence in this county. 

" I have the honor to be 

" Your most ob't serv't, 

"J. M. MOREIIEAD." 
" Rev. W. G. Brownlow." 

In conclusion, after this letter appeared, and Johnson was 
elected, he sent an appointment to Raleigh, for a speech — attended 
there, and blackguarded and vilified " Morehead and Brownlow" 
for two hours. He made the letter of Morehead the pretext for his 
abuse, but the real cause was the Governor's refusal to pardon his 
cousin. Johnson was there to procure his pardon, and brought 
every appliance to bear within his power, but the North Carolina 
Governor was inflexible in the discharge of his sworn duty ! We 
do not make the point against Johnson that he has mean kin, only 
so far as it may offset his abuse of others, for who of us are with- 
out mean kinsfolks ? But our point is, his deliberate lying before 
a Jonesboro' audience ! 



WITH PORBiaNISM. 75 



From tlio Knoxville Wliig of Doc. 1, 1S05.] 

GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S THANKSGIVING DAY. 

As the sixth of the present month has been set apart by our 
Governor, to be observed as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to 
Almighty God for his numerous and unmerited mercies conferred 
upon the people of our State and nation ; and as it is desirable 
that the different sects shall act in concert on the occasion, and at 
least pray " with the understanding," that is to say, appropriately, 
we have been at the trouble to prepare a form of prayer for the 
occasion. This we do in no irrevcrend spirit, but in all candor 
and sincerity, after this wise : 

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, in whom we live, and move, 
and have our being : we, thy needy creatures, render thee our hum- 
ble praises, for thy preservation of us from the beginning of our 
lives to this day of public thanksgiving, and especially for having 
delivered us from all the dangers and afflictions of the year about 
to close. By thy knowledge, most gracious God, the depths were 
broken up during the past seed-time and harvest, and the rains 
descended : while by night the clouds distilled the gentle dew, filling 
our barns with plenty : thus crowning the year with thy goodness, 
in the increase of the ground, and the gathering in of the fruits 
thereof. And we beseech thee, most merciful Father, give us a 
just sense of this great mercy : such as may appear in our lives, by 
an humble, holy, and obedient walking before thee all our days ! 

To thy watchful providence, most merciful God, we are in- 
debted for all our mercies, and not any works or merit of ours ; 
for many of us entered into the scramble to elevate to the Execu- 
tive Chair of the State the present incumbent, with a perfect know- 
ledge that he had abused thy Son, Jesus Ciirist, our Lord, on 
the floor of our State Senate, as a swindler, advocating unlawful 
interest: we knew that he had voted in Congress against offering 
prayers to thee : we knew that he had opposed the temperance 
cause, which is the cause of God and of all mankind : we knew that 
he had vilified the Protestant religion, and slandered the Protest- 
ant clergy, defending and eulogizing the corruptions of the Roman 



76 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Catholic Church, throughout the length and breadth of our State ; 
yet such was the force of party ties, most mighty God, that we 
went into the support of our Infidel Governor blind, and, by our 
zeal in his behalf, gave the lie to our professions of piety, rendered 
ourselves hateful in the eyes of all honest and consistent men, 
meriting a degree of punishment we have never received ! AVe do 
most heartily repent, merciful God, for these shameful sins : we 
humble ourselves in lowest depths of humility, and ask forgiveness 
of a God whom we have justly provoked to anger, and the forgive- 
ness of our insulted brethren, whom we have wickedly blackguarded, 
to the great injury of the cause of Christ ! 

most merciful God, who art of purer eyes than to behold in- 
iquity, turn not a deaf ear to our supplications on this day, because 
the day has been set apart by a Governor who really does not sub- 
scribe to the Christian religion ; does not attend Divine service ; 
who swears profanely ; and has insulted Heaven and outraged the 
feelings of all pious Christians, by teaching the blasphemous senti- 
ment that Christianity is of no higher or holier origin than his 
Democracy ! Have mercy, our Father and God, upon that portion 
of this congregation who have endeavored to find peace to their 
souls by travelling along the "converging lines" of a spurious 
Democracy, in search of the foot of "Jacob's Ladder," and give 
them repentance and better minds ! And do thou, God of pity, 
show all such, that instead of ascending to heaven on an imaginary 
"Ladder," they are chained fast to the Locomotive of Hell, with 
the Devil for their Chief Engineer, the Pope of Rome as Con- 
ductor, and an ungodly Governor as Breakman ; and that, at more 
than railroad speed, they are driving on to where they are to be 
eternally punished by Him whom thou hast appointed the Judge 
of quick and dead, thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen ! 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 77 



[From the Knoxville Wlii^- if May 24, 1856.] 

THE FOREIGN SPIRIT ILLUSTRATED. 

The following correspondence will explain itself, whilst it will 
serve to show the spirit which governs this Bogus Foreign Catholic 
Democracy : 

Richmond, April 21, 1856. 

" Re v. and dear Sir ; — It cannot bo unkind in me, though personally un- 
known to you, to address you on a subject in which our peace as citizens is 
alike concerned. 1 see in the Fincastle Democrat of 18th inst. what purports 
to be a review of an article of yours in the Knoxville Whig of 5th inst., in 
which I suppose, from the remarks contained in the Democrat, 1 have been 
very, very severely handled by you, for an offence I never committed. You 
will allow me to say, sir, that I have no recollection of ever writing or speak- 
ing a disrespectful word of you in all my life, but, on the contrary, have fre- 
quently spoken approvingly of much you have written. Such being the fact, 
you will not be surprised to learn how deeply I regret that the purest inno- 
cence on my part has failed to be a protection against personal abuse. That 
you have been misled by some person, is to my mind very plain, and if, 
through the influence of another, you have inflicted a wound upon one that 
never harmed you, nor ever designed to harm you, is it not within the range 
of a generous nature — of an honest man — to repair the injury by at once 
giving up to the injured party the name of the deceiver, or publish him to the 
world as authority for the assault, and let him assume its responsibilities? 

In a change of circumstances, I should feel bound, by the honor of a man, 
to do that much, and in my present relation to the case I ask nothing more. 
It is perhaps due to you to be informed, that I have not seen your article, nor 
do I know a word it contains, and it is due to myself to say that I knew 
nothing of the article in the Democrat assailing you, till I saw it in print 
some hundred of miles from home, where I have not yet arrived after an 
absence of nearly two months. On the subject of dues, I may add that it is 
due to the public that the name of the deceiver be given them. I of course 
suppose him to be a man of great personal courage, ready to assume all his 
own responsibilities. In conclusion, permit me to say, that any effort on 
your part to aid in concealing the hand that uses the dagger in the dark, will 
detract largely from the estimate I have placed upon your character, as a man 
without hesitation or fear, when the claims of justice are presented. My 
address is Fincastle, Botetourt Co., Va., and I am very respectfully, 

S. D. HOPKINS. 

Knoxville, May 21st, 1856. 
Rev. S. D. Hopkins: 

Sir — Through the weakness, mismanagement, and culpable re- 
missness of the contemptible Jesuit now at the head of the Post 



78 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Office Department, and his numerous lackeys— all of whom you 
sustain in their politics — a letter written by you one month ago 
was received a few days since, while I was absent at a Know 
Nothing Convention, aiding my political brethren in placing before 
the people of this Congressional District an electoral candidate, to 
aid in the great Christian and patriotic work of overthrowing the 
corrupt, profligate, unprincipled, Foreign Catholic Bogus Demo- 
cratic party, of which you are a member, and in the service of 
which you are an editor ! But my delay in replying to your letter 
shall be atoned for in the length and plainness of my reply. 

It is true, sir, that I published an editorial in my paper, of some 
severity against you ; but the article was in reply to a low, cowardly, 
and abusive editorial against me in the "Fincastle Democrat/' of 
which you are the editor. And "you will allow me to say, sir," 
that at the time this attack was made upon me in your^ paper, I 
never had said a word about you or your paper in my life, either 
"good, bad, or indifferent;" and "if through the influence of 
another you have inflicted a wound upon one that never harmed 
you, is it not within the range of a generous nature — of an honest 
man" — to repair the injury by taking back the article, and apolo- 
gizing through the same medium for the injury ? If, however, you 
believe you have not " been misled by some person," and have done 
me no more than justice in that abusive article, hold on to it. 
Having made oath that the horse is fifteen feet high, allow of no 
correction ! 

In all frankness, you must permit me to say, that I believe you 
expected to find in the office on your return to Fincastle, a letter 
from me demanding your authority for admitting into your paper 
such an article against me, who, as you very well knew, up to that 
hour had never said one word, publicly or privately, against you or 
your paper. I think you concluded to take the start of me, and 
thus to forestall me, by writing from B.ichmond some twenty-four 
hours before you would arrive at home ! 

In your paper of the 18th of April, issued only three days be- 
fore this letter was written at Richmond, an editorial _ of jbalf a 
column appears, in which your paper styles me a " notorious black- 
guard"— a "bullying blackguard" — an "unwanted and lying 
man" — avIio "is mean enough to lie, cheat, or even steal" — a man 
"wearing the garb of righteousness to serve the Devil in;" and in 
the same article, the case of a Locofoco editor, who was involved 
in a shooting scrape on account of his attack upon a lady, is actu- 
ally attributed to me ! Although you are a Beverend Methodist 
Preacher, and a grave and dignified Steam Doctor, conducting one 
of the organs of the Foreign and Anti-American party in Virginia, 
you must pardon me for saying, as I now do, that in calling upon 



WITH P0RBI8NISM. 79 

me for my authority for "whal I had Baid in reply to the unmiti- 
gated abuse of yowr paper, you have proven to my mind, thai if 

you do not possess the cool and collected impudence "I" the Devil, 
you arc at least possessed of the lion-headed impudence of an on- 
principled Sag Nicht partisan, hired to do the dirty work of an 
equally unprincipled and dirty organization ! 

But it is due to the history of this controversy that I should 
say, this second attack upon me sets forth that you are from home, 
and that "the Junior is responsible for the article." This might 
be credited, if, on your return home, you had protested against Buch 
abuse, bttt it seems from your silence to have met with your heart's 
approval, and gave "general satisfaction," at least to you! It is 
true that you were absent at the time of both these publications, 
but it docs not follow, as a matter of course, that you were not the 
veritable author, and that they did not find their way to the " Dem- 
ocrat" office at the same time and in the same way that your "Bal- 
timore Correspondence" got there. The "Junior," as he styles 
himself, claims the fraternity; and were it not that he is too well 
known in Fincastle for any sane man to believe that he wrote the 
articles, he might have the credit (if credit there be attached to 
it) of so low, malicious, and lying articles. But he is known in 
Fincastle to be a brainless man, and to be incapable of writing a 
paragraph on any subject. He is known to have no use of lan- 
guage, and to be incapable of applying epithets to any one. So 
that, if you did not write these articles, they were manufactured 
at " Irish Corner," in Fincastle, your "Junior" not being able to doit, 
for the reason that he is wholly incapable. My opinion is, that the 
articles were manufactured by the "Great Mogul" of the Anti- 
American party in your town, and if he will only avow himself the 
author, I will make some disclosures upon him that will make him 
wish himself back in " Swate Ireland," where he "lives, and moves, 
and has his being;" no disclosures are necessary — his books, ami 
his person, damn him to everlasting infamy. He has the filthiest- 
looking mouth, and the most offensive breath, of any man in the 
Valley of Virginia. No man who knows him will meet him square 
on the pavement, or place himself in a position, if it can be avoided, 
of meeting a breeze from that great reservoir of all mistiness, his 
mouth ! It is really a wonder how any human being can live, and 
emit all the time a stream of such overwhelming and uninterrupted 
stench! You must permit me to christen this man as the But-Cut 
of Original Sin, and the Upper-crust of all Nastiness ! 

It may not set well upon your stomach, that being a "Minister 
of the Gospel, and having the care of souls," I should seem not to 
place implicit confidence in your denial of any participation in this 
unprovoked war upon me. I will be candid with you, and though 



80 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

it is possible for rac to be mistaken in my views, still, if I am, I am 
honestly deceived. I have no confidence in the moral honesty and 
Christian integrity of any Protestant Preacher, of any denomina- 
tion, in this country, who openly arrays himself against the Ameri- 
can party, and takes the side of the Catholics, Foreigners, and 
self-styled Democrats associated with them. Nor will I hear one 
such preach or pray, if I know him to be such, and can get out of 
his hearing. The growing light and improvements of this age 
forbid that an intelligent and pious man and minister should iden- 
tify himself with that party. And the fiery genius, corrupting 
tendencies, and uncompromising intolerance of that party, are 
rapidly driving good and true men out of the party. 

There never was a time since the division of parties in this coun- 
try, when I had so little confidence in what is called the Democratic 
party as at present ; and as at present organized and constituted, 
I believe it to be the most corrupt organization. It is made up of 
the odds and ends of all factions and parties on the continent, and 
is one of the most anomalous combinations of fanaticism, idolatry, 
prostitution, crime, and absurdities conceivable ! The isms com- 
posing the party of which you are a member, are : Abolitionism ; 
Free-soilism ; Agrarianism ; Fourieritism ; Millerism; Radicalism; 
Woman's Rightsism ; Mobism ; Mormonism ; Spiritualism ; Loco- 
focoism ; Higher-Lawism ; Foreign Pauperism ; Anti- Americanism ; 
Roman Catholicism ; Deism, and modern Sag Nichtisin ! All this 
tide of fanaticism and error, originating North of Mason and Dix- 
on's Line, went for Pierce in the last Presidential contest : they 
are with that party now, against the American party ; and it is bad 
company in which to find a Protestant minister ! Yet, miserable 
Protestants hesitate not to commend these enemies of the natural 
rights of man, and of the Christian religion, as being just as good 
Christians as their neighbors ! 

" Oh ! judgment, thou hast fled to brutish beasts ; 
And men have not their reason |" 

But, Doctor, why were you at Baltimore ? Why, sir, during the 
past year, you and other conscientious Methodists took it into your 
heads to arraign a young man who was travelling your circuit, Mr. 
Hall, and, for the Church's good, to have him expelled, whose great 
sin was that he was a Know-Nothing, or sympathized with the 
Order ! The authorities of the Church, after a patient hearing of 
the whole case, pro and con, acquitted the young man. You fol- 
lowed him up to the Annual Conference, as the representative of 
and attorney for Sag Nichtism. The Conference acquitted the 
young preacher again, and sent him to an enlightened circuit in 
Maryland. This so offended you, and your patriotic, not to say 
pious associates, that, for the Church's good, they resigned their 



WITH FOREKiNISM. Si 

stewardship in the Church, and were BO offended at the course of 
the Presiding Elder, li ■■■•. M. Cf-oheen, than whom there is not a 
more modest, unassuming, conservative Christian gentleman in the 
Valley of Virginia, that, at a recent Quarterly Meeting there, they 
refused to attend church, or to hear him preach. This is just tin- 
spirit that actuates your party, everywhere. 

You demand of me the name or names of such person or per- 
sons as have given me information in reference to you. Recon- 
sider this demand, if you please, and ask yourself if, under all the 
circumstances, it is not a cool piece of impudence. I have pub- 
lished nothing about you upon the authority of others, but upon 
my own authority and responsibility. You suspect some of your 
neighbors for writing to me, and hence you make this demand. It 
is true, I have friends in Fincastle, and some of these write to 
me, and when I publish any thing about you, or any one of your 
associates, and give these friends of mine as authority, I will give 
you their names, if called upon to do so ; or I will assume the 
responsibility myself. What I have said in reply to the wicked, 
slanderous, and cowardly assault upon me, in the dirty paper con- 
trolled by you, I have said upon my own responsibilities, as a man, 
and as a member of the same Church to Avhich you belong ; and 
whether my "peace as a citizen" is preserved or destroyed, I am 
not the man to be intimidated or driven from my position. My 
failure to give you the names of any citizens of your vicinity, who 
may have written me private letters, relating to your war upon 
young Hall, the Circuit Preacher, "will detract largely from the 
estimate you have placed upon my character." This I am sorry 
to hear, as I do not wish to fall below the "estimate" placed upon 
my character in the two issues of your paper, now before me ! 
This would be reaching "a lower deep," as the poet classically 
styles it ! 

Now, sir, I have a letter from a town in Virginia, not far distant 
from Fincastle, written by a gentleman of as " great personal cour- 
age" as you or myself, who states, that a gentleman who was pre- 
sent at the trial of Rev. Mr. Hall, heard you make the assertion, 
on that occasion, that you alone were responsible for all the editor- 
ials that appeared in the "Democrat," and that the "Junior" part- 
ner was not ! If you think proper to make an issue with this 
gentleman, you can have his name ! 

I am, Dr. Hopkins, your humble servant, 

W. Gr. Brownlow, 

Editor of the Knoxville Whir;. 



82 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



[From the Knoxville Whig.] 

TO STEPHEN TRIBBLE. 

Villainous Sir : — Letters from my friends in the West inform 
me that you are making a full team in the service of the Devil, 
Locofocoism, and crime, in portions of Missouri and Kentucky ! 
You have recently held forth in Charleston, a pleasant post- 
village, the capital of Mississippi county, Missouri, about six miles 
south-west of the "Father of Waters !" In that town you under- 
took to inform the good people, the Circuit Judge being present, 
who I am, and to demonstrate that I am not entitled to credit in 
any thing I say ! You claimed to have once lived in East Tennes- 
gee — to know the people and the country — and to have known 
William T. Senter and James Y. Crawford, two other Methodist 
preachers, whose pedigrees you pretend to give ! 

Mr. Senter was an able man — a moral and upright man — and a 
Wilis Representative in Congress, from the District you repre- 
sented in the jail of Sullivan county, for a long time previous to 
your being branded in the hand and on the cheeks, for MAN- 
SLAUGHTER, the particulars of which I will remind you of before 
I close this familiar letter ! Mr. Senter could have gone to Con- 
gress longer, but voluntarily retired. Mr. Crawford was a brother- 
in-law to Mr. Senter, and was a preacher of respectable talents, 
and in good standing in his Church. They are both in their 
graves, beyond the reach of your malice, where the sound of your 
infamous voice, and the words of your lying tongue, can never 
penetrate their ears ! But I am still above ground, daily kicking, 
and making war upon the Locofoco Paupers and Foreign Catholics, 
as well as Native Traitors, with whom you are associated, and 
with whom you act in politics. I acknowledge myself to be game 
for you to hunt down ! 

You are now a Campbellite preacher as well as a Sag Nicht 
Missionary ; and the garb of religion you wear, gives a degree of 
weight to your falsehoods and slanders, among strangers, that they 
otherwise would not have. The idea of "Stev Tribble," who in- 
gloriously fled from this country for crimes he could not meet in 
open court, being a preacher, and itinerating through the West, 
"in search of the lost sheep of the house of Israel," is so ridiculous, 
as scarcely to be believed at all, although there is no doubt but 
what he has been regularly installed in Kentucky, and now has the 
"care of souls." 



WITH FOREIQNISM. 83 

Why, you unmitigated old villain, your -whole career, from your 
"youth up," has been one of crime and revolting blackguardism. 
While a boy and a young man, where Iloss's school was taught in 
Washington county, your vulgar conversation, immoral practices, 
indecent habits, and blackguardism, disgusted the entire neighbor- 
hood, and rendered you so odious that no decent family would 
board you! All the waters of the far-famed Jordan, in the 
palmiest days of that bold stream, were not sufficient to wash your 
sins away ! If the Lord Bishop of London were to immerse you 
as often as " seventy times seven," in the waters of "bold Jordan," 
and in the name of the holy Trinity, you would still remain what 
you were when you fled from this country to avoid the extreme 
penalty of the law — one of the greatest scoundrels for whom Christ 
died ! 

Yourself and half-brother Ilavron were confined in Blountville 
Jail, for the murder of William Humphreys, a promising young 
man, whom you brutally assaulted and murdered in open daylight 
in the streets of Kingsport, in Sullivan county, and without provo- 
cation ! You were tried and convicted of manslaughter, and 
branded in the hand and on the cheek. After being branded, you 
bit the letters out of your hand, and clawed them out of your face, 
but the scars are to be seen in both. Indeed, I have been written 
to, to know why these scars are on your face ! I take this method 
of answering those inquiries; and publishing them in my "Whig," 
which has a circulation of 5,000, and our "Campaigner," which 
circulates 7,000 copies, I shall be able to introduce you to as many 
persons as may have heard you preach my funeral. 

While in the Blountville Jail, with your half-brother, Ilavron, 
whose blow killed Humphreys, after you had weakened him, you 
caught hold of the jailor, Montgomery Irvin, and held him in a 
scuffle, when he entered the room with your dinner, until Ilavron 
made his escape. Havron would have pulled hemp, had he not 
escaped ; and had our penitentiary system existed at that time, you 
would have been sentenced for life ! But you would not have 
remained there longer than the past summer, as we have a Gover- 
nor who pardons out all such men, and has more sympathies for 
them than any other Executive Officer in the nation. You have a 
half-brother who is a Sag Nicht member of our Legislature, and a 
great friend and supporter of our Governor and his foreign asso- 
ciates, and he could have turned you out and procured for you an 
office if you had remained. But then you followed the teachings 
of "the spirit" of Sag Nichtism, in leaving between two days, and 
emigrating to Kentucky, as many precious souls would never have 
"heard the word," or had their sin washed away, but for you! 

In an unmentionable and disgraceful enterprise, you became pos- 



84 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

sessed of a broken leg, and were mean enough to abscond without 
paying the bill of your physician, Dr. Patton, whose unremitting 
attention saved you from your grave, and from the clutches of the 
Devil, sooner than the old fellow was prepared for your reception ! 
If you had the honor of a first class thief, you would pay this 
medical bill out of the proceeds of the first public collection you 
take up, either in Missouri or Kentucky. And if you suffer it to go 
unpaid until your infinitely infernal career is wound up, the Day 
of Judgment will disclose the manner of your breaking your leg ! 
If I were you, I would sooner pay this bill now, than to be asked 
in the great day how my leg was broken ! 

Disgraced as you are, unprincipled and villainous, you have gone 
into Kentucky, taken upon yourself "holy orders," and married a 
wife, imposing most shamefully upon the family into which you 
married. The woman you have thus imposed upon, would be justi- 
fiable now, in the eyes of both God and man, in forsaking you and 
applying for a divorce. And no court or jury would refuse her 
application, when made acquainted with your character. 

It is a remarkable fact — one that I desire to call, not so much 
to your notice, as to the notice of the public generally — that while 
all the members of this Foreign Democratic party are by no means 
villains, destitute of principle ; yet, all the assassins, cut-throats, 
thieves, and hypocrites in the country have crowded into the ranks 
of that party ! Fawned upon, fostered and pampered by the vil- 
lainous leaders, demagogues, and tricksters of the party, who need 
the services of all such scavengers, you are encouraged to act with 
them. These leaders, who are really no better than you are, gen- 
erously admit you to a fellowship, and courteously acknowledge all 
such abandoned rascals to be their equals ! Such men, to a great 
extent, now constitute the free-democracy of the country — they 
desecrate the ballot-box — disgust decent men wherever they come 
in contact with them — blaspheme the name of God — and swear that 
they will either rule or ruin the country ! 

But, Sir, it was said of a certain man in the Scriptures, that he 
was a "sinner above all the sinners that dwell in Jerusalem." So 
it may in perfect truth be said of you, that you are a scoundrel 
above all the scoundrels in the hateful ranks of Sag Nichtism. 
You deserve, for your depraved course of life, a greater punishment 
than you have received or are likely to receive in this life. The 
guilt of foul calumny, of the most black and odious kind, attaches 
to every sentence uttered by your lying tongue. Guilt, the offspring 
of fiend-like malice, shamefully false, deeply corrupt, and badly 
matured: perfidy, dishonesty, and rank poison — hot incense of 
murder, theft, inhuman spoliation, and deep, dark forebodings of 
damnation have been rooted and grounded in your heart, for lo ! 



WITH FOKEIGNISM. S. r > 

these many years! Dark despair, endless death, inexpressible 
misery, manifold, and worse than death, follow in the ghastly train 
of your crimes, and riot in your corrupt bosom, as with infernal 
drunkenness of delight! The record of 3'our deep depravity, of 
your utter want of principle, and of your ten thousand villainous 
exploits, is stereotyped upon the burning sands of eternity, and 
stamped on the imperishable walls of the rotunda of the Devil's 
Hell, to which you are driving at railroad speed ! In upper East 
Tennessee, where you are known, it would disgrace an Algerine 
Bandit to sit and hear you pretend to preach ! You pretend to 
preach Christ and him crucified, and immerse persons in the name 
of the Trinity ! Shrouded in the sackcloth and ashes of disgrace, 
enclosed in a vault filled to the brim with buried and putrefied 
venality, and steeped to the very nose and chin in crime, how dare 
you attempt to preach ! 

I repeat, you vile slanderer of the living and the dead, that, in 
justice to the cause of God and of civilization, I will keep spread 
the unfurled banner of your infamy on every breeze, and cause it 
to float in the atmosphere of every State in this Union, until your 
very name becomes a mockery and a by-word ! And I call upon 
the people of Kentucky and Missouri to ring the loud knell of your 
infamy, from steep to steep, and from valley to valley, until their 
swelling sounds are heard in startling echoes, mingling with the 
rush of the criminal's torrent, and the mighty cataract's earthquake- 
voice ! 

W. G. Brownlow, 

Editor of the Knoxvilk Whig. 
June 7th, 1856. 



S6 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



AN EXPOSE OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM. 

The following articles, setting forth the designs and tendency 
of Romanism in the United States, appeared in the " Knoxville 
Whig" of May and June, 1856, and will speak for themselves. 
The writer has opposed the Papal Hierarchy for twenty years ; 
and in a series of articles, now filed in a number of the " Jones- 
BOROUGn Whig," published sixteen years ago, he predietcd that the 
very state of things we are now realizing would come upon us as 
soon as the year 1860, and that the party calling itself by the 
revered name of Democrat, would identify itself with political 
Romanism ! 

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.— NO. I. 

The American Party and the Religious Test— The Louisiana Delegation and 
the Gallican Catholics— The vote of the Philadelphia Convention to admit 
the Louisiana Delegates— The American Councils in Louisiana— Catholics 
proper cannot be true citizens of a Republic. 

It i3 sometimes said by the Anties, that the American party, at 
their late Philadelphia Convention, dismissed the Catholic Ques- 
tion from their platform, and that they admitted into their Council 
a Catholic Delegation from Louisiana. We were in that Conven- 
tion, from the hour of its opening until its final close, and we deny 
both statements. The fifth and tenth sections of the platform 
adopted at Philadelphia, and for which we voted, are in the follow- 
ing words, and they express all our platform says upon that subject : 

5th. No person should be selected for political station, (whether of native 
or foreign birth,) who recognizes any allegiance or obligation of any descrip- 
tion to any foreign prince, potentate, or power, or who refuses to recognize the 
Federal and State Constitutions (each within its sphere) as paramount to all 
other laws, as rules of political action. 

10th. Opposition to any union between Church and State ; no interference 
with religious faith or worship, and no tests oaths for office. 

The American party was against political Romanism — against 
all who acknowledge any allegiance to a foreign Prince, Potentate, 
or Power ; or who acknowledge any authority on earth, higher 



CATHOLIC PERSECUTION. 




ROMAN CRUELTIES OF THE INQUISITION — THE RACK. 



WITH FOREIGNISM. S7 

and more binding than the Constitutions of our States, and Gen- 
eral Government. And those who are familiar with the temporal 

assumptions of Popery, and the political intrigues of the Order of 
Jesuits, can have no other feelings than these of disgust, upon hear- 
ing the Locofoco demagogues 01 the country cry out against the 
American party for their opposition to the poor Catholics ! Against 
Popes confined to Home, we make no war ; but against Popes 
usurping civil and spiritual authority, in America, we protest most 
solemnly, and intend to make war, unrelenting and unceasing war! 

The Louisiana Delegation, five in number, were two Method i.-t — 
one Old School Presbyterian — one Episcopalian — and the ether, 
Mr. Eustes, a member of Congress, not a member of any Church. 
Those gentlemen presented their credentials for admission, and 
they were objected to, because Roman Catholics were admitted into 
the Order by the Louisiana State Council. A warm debate ensui d, 
on a motion to admit the Delegation, on their credentials, 'which 
finally prevailed, by yeas 67, nays 50, many of the members hav- 
ing left for their lodgings, because of the lateness of the hour, and 
of their fatigue. We were in favor of their admission, and BO was 
Mr. Nelson, of East Tennessee, and we both claim to be ultra Pro- 
testant, if the reader please. 

The " Catholicism" of Louisiana, we wish it borne in mind — that 
is the Gallican wing of the Church — is a very different species of 
" Catholicism*' from that of our Irish and German Hierarchy 
taught in this country, under the training of Archbishop Hughes 
and Monseigneur Bedini, the Pope's villainous Nuncio. The French 
Gallican Church has so little respect for the Pope of Rome, that 
when the King of Sardinia was in Paris, less than twelve months 
ago, though he was under the interdict of a Papal Bull of excom- 
munication from Pius IX., the Gallican Archbishops of Pius, and 
other Priests associated with them, visited him regularly, and ten- 
dered him unbounded courtesies and honors. The Gallican wing 
of the Catholic Church of France is liberal, as well as hostile to 
the insulting claims and pretensions of the Pope. But it is diluted 
still more with liberality, and with opposition to these claims of the 
Pope, among the French Creoles of Louisiana. Most of them, though 
Roman Catholics by name, from being educated in the forms of 
the Roman Church, have just about as much respect for Rome, and 
confidence in the Pope, as we have, and God knows that is very 
little. They denounce Papal Bulls, interdicts, and Nuncios. They 
throw off all temporal and spiritual allegiance to the Pope — the 
civil authorities of the United States with them are supreme — they 
are American born — and hence, our platform does not exclude 
them, and consequently they were admitted at Philadelphia, or. 
which is the same, their representatives. 



S3 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

In 1652, under Louis XIV., the Gallican clergy met in Paris, 
and adopted the following point : " That the Pope has no power, of 
Divine right, to interfere with the temporal affairs of independent 
States." Thus, the Catholics of Louisiana rejecting the doctrine 
of the temporal power of the Pope, are not proscribed by the 
American party. They constitute a sound portion of the Ameri- 
can party. 

Mr. Lathrop, a Presbyterian Elder, and a Delegate from Louisi- 
ana, read to the Convention from the ritual of the subordinate 
organizations of the American party of Louisiana, and showed 
that, while it admitted those to membership who professed the 
Roman Catholic religion, IT REQUIRED OF THEM THE DE- 
NIAL OF ALLEGIANCE TO ANY TEMPORAL AUTHOR- 
ITY NOT COGNIZABLE IN THE STATE AND UNITED 
STATES CONSTITUTIONS ; and from each secured a pledge, 
UPON OATH, that they would not divulge the secrets of the 
Order ! He defended the Louisiana Catholics, as being true Amer- 
icans, recognizing no civil or spiritual power in their Priests, and 
resisting every attempt, whether by a Bishop or Priest, to interfere 
with the institutions of our country. He cited cases which had 
occurred in Louisiana, of controversies between the Clergy and 
Laity, for the control of Church property, and the decisions of 
courts over which Gallican Catholic Judges presided, in favor of 
titles and control vesting in Trustees, the Laity. He showed that 
the native Catholics of Louisiana were the friends of common 
schools, and the advocates of popular education. He proclaimed 
aloud that the native Catholics of his State recognized no persons 
as proper depositaries of office, who acknowledged an allegiance to 
any person, civil or ecclesiastical, superior to that of the laws and 
Constitution of our country. He proclaimed that the Nuncios of 
the Pope of Rome hated these Louisiana Catholics, with a more 
perfect hatred than they did the "apostle heretics" called Protes- 
tants ! This speech was received with unbounded applause, the 
question was called, and, as we have before stated, it was sanctioned, 
very properly too, by a vote of 67 to 50 ! 

The American party not only advocate religious toleration, but 
religious liberty, which is a very different thing. Toleration is not 
the word in our vocabulary — it does not express enough, because it 
implies the right to permit or prohibit. We contend for liberty, 
the meaning of which is, that men are not responsible to each other, 
to Popes, Bishops, or Priests, for their religious opinions or prac- 
tices, and that consequently religion is not a subject of toleration. 

The Catholics, proper, have taken an oath of allegiance to the 
Pope of Rome, a "foreign prince, potentate, and power," and their 
obligations to him are higher, more sacred, and more binding, than 



WITH FOREIQNISM. 89 

any obligations they can take upon them to support the laws and 
Constitution of this country. These are the men that we refuse to 

vote for, or put in office. They are not and cannot be true Amer- 
icans. The oaths of the priests bind them to war upon all Protes- 
tant sects, and upon all Republican powers of Government. These 
oaths bind them to the foot of the Tapal Throne; and with these 
oaths upon their souls, they cannot be true citizens of this Republic 
without perjury. And if guilty of perjury, the State prison should 
be their residence. 

In our next, we shall consider this subject more at length, in 
connection with the oath of allegiance to our country, and the Ca- 
tholic evasion of that oath. 



90 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



THE CATHOLIC QUESTION— No. 2. 

Ambiguous terms in swearing — The case of Judge Gaston — Temporal power 
of thePope — Catholic authorities in Europe — The spirit of the Catholic 
press in America ! 

We are told by the Democratic sympathizers with the Catholics, 
that all Catholic emigrants to this country take an oath of allegi- 
ance to the United States upon becoming naturalized. Yes, they 
do, and the oath after it is taken, has no more weight with them, 
than has a regular-built Know Nothing speech. 

Here is a paragraph from Sanchez, the highest authority in the 
Catholic Church, Pope Pius only excepted. This writer, "by 
authority," shows how this oath of allegiance is evaded by a men- 
tal reservation : 

" It is lawful to use ambiguous terms to give the impression a different 
sense from that which you understand yourself. A person may take an oath 
that he has not done such a thing, though in fact he has, by saying to himself 
it was not done on a certain day, or before he was born, or by any other sim- 
ilar circumstances, which gives another meaning to it. This is extremely 
convenient, and always very just, when necessary to your health, honor or 
prosperity." 

Here, then, we have it from the highest Catholic authority, that 
Catholics are absolved from all allegiance to this government, be- 
cause they take the oath of allegiance without committing perjury, 
by the holy process of a mental reservation — the use of " ambiguous 
terms," setting forth one thing while they swear another ! We 
have no doubt that Chief Justice Taney, a devoted Catholic of 
Baltimore, and now at the head of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, took his oath of office requiring him to support the 
Constitution, with this same mental reservation. We have no 
doubt that those Catholic Judges upon the Federal Bench in sev- 
eral States in the Union, and those Catholic Attorney Generals, 
appointed to office by Mr. Pierce, so understood their oaths of 
office, and of allegiance ! And the practice of Post-Master General 
Campbell, a bigoted Catholic, and a member of the order of Jes- 
uits, proves that he so understood his oath to support the Constitu- 
tion. As true Catholics, they are bound to swear with this mental 



CATHOLIC PERSECUTION. 




HI IINING OF BRADFORD, RIDLEY, LATIMER, PHILPOT, AND OTIIERS J 
AND THE HOLY BIBLE ! 



WITH FOREIONISM. 91 

reservation, because they could not owe allegiance to a government 
of "heretics," such as they believe ours to be. As Catholics, they 
are bound to overthrow our Constitution, and aid in the destruction 
of our government. 

It is a matter of history that when the Legislature of North 
Carolina elected Judge GrASTQH to the Supreme Bench in that 
State, he hesitated as to whether he would take the oath or not. 
And why? He was, although an able man, and in all the private 
relations of life a most excellent man, a decided and devoted 
Roman Catholic. This is not all. The oath of a Judge in that 
State, which is not common in other States, requires the man tub- 
ing it to avow his belief in the Protestant religion. Judge ( raston 
asked for a few days to consider — he went instantly to Baltimore, 
as was believed, to consult the Catholic Bishop, who then resided 
there — obtained a dispensation, as was supposed — wrote back that 
he would accept the office — returned, was qualified, and to the day 
of his death was on the Bench ! This affair illustrates Romanism. 
And what Rome was, she is, and always Avill be. Can Rome 
change? Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his 
spots ? 

Here is what Philopater, an approved Catholic authority of the 
first grade, says, touching the principle in controversy : 

"All theologians and ecclesiastical lawyers affirm that every Christian 
government, as soon as it openly abandons the Romish faith, is instantly 
degraded from all power and dignity: all the subjects arc absolved from the 
oath of fidelity and obedience which they have, taken, and they may and 
ought, if they have the power, to drive such government from every Christian 
State, as an apostate, heretic, and deserter from Jesus Christ. This certain 
and indubitable decision of all the most learned men is perfectly conformed 
to the most apostolic doctrines." 

Our Locofoco advocates of Romanism deny that the Tope lays 
claim to the supremacy charged by the American party. On this 
point, we desire that the Catholics may speak for themselves. 
One of their standard writers, Farraris, in his Ecclesiastical Dic- 
tionary, a work endorsed by their Council of Bishops and Car- 
dinals, under the article headed "Pope," uses this emphatic and 
expressive language : 

" The Pope is of such dignity and highness, that he is not simply man, but, 
as it were, God, and the vicar of God. Hence the Pope is such supreme and 
sovereign dignity, that, properly speaking, he is aot merely constituted in 
dignity, but is rather placed on the very summit of dignities. Hence, also, 
the Pope is rather father of fathers, and "he alone can use this name, because 
he only can be called father of fathers: since he possesses the primacy over 
all, is truly greater than all, and the greatest of all. He is called most holy, 
because he is presumed to be such. On account of the excellency of his 
supreme dignity, he is called bishop of bishops, ordinary of ordinaries, uni- 
versal bishop of the Church, bishop of diocesan, of the whole world, divine 
monarch, supreme emperor, and king of kings." 



92 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Peter Dens, of Maynooth College notoriety, whose " Theology" 
is the highest Catholic authority known this side of the Vatican at 
Rome, gives entire the Bull of Pope Sixtus V. against the King 
of Navarre and the Prince of Conde, whom he styles the sons of 
wrath. In this Bull, issued in the year 1585, he says : 

" The authority given to Saint Peter and his successors, by the immense 
power of the eternal King, excels all the power of earthly kings and princes. 
It passeth uncontrollable sentence upon them all. And if it find any of them 
resisting God's obedience, it takes more severe vengeance on them, casting 
them down from their thrones, however powerful they may be, and tumbling 
them down to the lowest parts of the earth, as the ministers of aspiring 
Lucifer." 

Here is what Daniel 0' Connell said so late as 1843, and he was 
a true Catholic and a true exponent of this faith : 

"You should do all in your power to carry out the intentions of His Holi- 
ness the Pope. Where you have the electoral franchise, give your votes to 
none but those who will assist you in so holy a struggle. 

" I declare my most unequivocal submission to the Head of the Church, and 
to the hierarchy in its different orders. If the Bishop makes a declaration 
on this bill, I never would be heard speaking against it, but would submit at 
once unequivocally to that decision. They have only to decide, and I close 
my mouth : they have only to determine, and I obey. I wish it to be under- 
stood that such is the duty of all Catholics. — Daniel 0' Council, 1843. 

Here comes one of the Pope's organs in Prance : 

"A heretic, examined and convicted by the Church, used to be delivered 
over to the secular power and punished with death. Nothing has ever appeared 
to us more necessary. More than one hundred thousand persons perished in 
consequence of the heresy of Wickliffe : a still greater number for that of 
John Huss ; and it would not be possible to calculate the bloodshed caused by 
Luther ; and it is not yet over." — Paris TJnivers. 

"As for myself, what I regret, I frankly own, is that they did not burn 
John Huss sooner, and that they did not likewise burn Luther : this hap- 
pened because there was not found some prince sufficiently politic to stir up a 
crusade against Protestants." — Paris Univers. 

But here is the Pope himself arguing with the authorities already 
quoted : 

" The absurd or erroneous doctrines or ravings in defence of liberty of con- 
science, is a most pestilential error — a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded 
in a State." — Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius IX., Aug. 15, 1852. 

Now, let us hear their organs in our own country : 

" Heresy and unbelief are crimes, and in Christian countries, like Italy and 
Spain for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Chris- 
tian religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished 
as other crimes." — R. C. Archbishop of St. Louis. 

" For our own part, we take this opportunity of expressing our hearty 
delight at the suppression of the Protestant chapel at Rome. This may be 
thought intolerant, but when, we would ask, did we ever profess to be tolerant 
of Protestantism, or favor the doctrine that Protestantism ought to be tolerated? 



with formcxism. 93 

On the contrary, we hate Protestantism we detest it with our whole heart 
and soul, and we pray thai our aversion to it may never decrease. We hold 
it im-1'i that iii the Sternal City no worship repugnant to Ood should be toler- 
ated, and we are sincerely glad that the enemies of truth are no longer allowed 
to meel together in the capital of the Christian world." — Pittsburg Catholic 
Visitor, is is. • 

" No good government can exist without religion ; and there can be no re- 
ligion without an Inquisition, which ie wisely designed for the promotion and 

protection of the true faith." — Boston. Pilot. 

"Yuu ask, if he (the Pope) were lord in the land, and you were in a minor- 
ity, if not in numbers, yet in power, what would he do to y>u'! That, wo 
say, would entirely depend on circumstances. If it would benefit the cause of 
Catholicism, he would tolerate you — if expedient, he would imprison you — 
banish you — possibly, hang you — but be assured of one thing, he would 
never tolerate you for the sake of the ' glorious principles' of civil and religi- 
ous liberty." — aambli r. 

" Protestantism of every form has not and never can have any rights where 
Catholicity is triumphant.'' — Broumson's Quarter!// Rem to. 

" Let us dare to assert the truth in the lace of the lying world, and, instead 
of pleading for our Church at the bar of the State, summon the State it ■ If to 
plead at the bar of the Church, its divinely constituted judge." — Ibid. 

" I never think of publishing any thing in regard to the Church without 
submitting my articles to the Bishop for inspection, approval, and endorse- 
ment." — Ibid. 

In view of the foregoing, and other facts and arguments which 
we will hereafter present, we cannot be mistaken in our views of 
Roman Catholicism. We cannot tamely surrender our dearest 
rights as Protestants, without a struggle. We cannot cry peace, 
peace, when there is no peace ! 

" Protestantism, of every kind, Catholicity inserts in her catalogue of moral 

sins : she endures it when and where she must ; but she hates it, and dii ts 

all her energies to effect its destruction." — St. Louis Shepherd oftheValley. 

" Religious liberty, in the sense of a liberty possessed by every man to 
choose his religion, is one of the most wretched delusions ever foisted on this 
age by the father of deceit." — The Humbler, 1853. 

" The Church is of necessity intolerant. Heresy she endures when anil 
where she must, but she hates it, and directs all her energies to its destruc- 
tion, If Catholics ever gain an immense numerical majority in this country, 
religious freedom is at an end. So say our enemies. So say we." — Shepherd 
of the Valley. 

" The liberty of heresy and unbelief is not a right. . . . All the rights the 
sects have, or can have, are derived from the State, and rest on expediency. 
As they have, in their character of sects hostile to the true religion, no rights 
under the law of nature or the law of God, they are neither wronged nor 
deprived of liberty, if the State refuses to grant them auy rights at all." — 
Broumson's Review, Oct., 1853, p. 456. 

"The sorriest sight to us is a Catholic throwing up his cap. and shouting, 
•All hail, Democracy!' "—Ibid, October, 1852, pp. 55 1-8. 

"We think the 'masses' were never less happy, less respectable, and less 
respected, than they have been since the reformation, and particularly within 
the last fifty or one hundred years, since Lord Brougham caught the mania 
of teaching them to read and communicate the disease to a large proportion 
of the English nation ; of which, in spite of all our talk, we are often the 
servile imitators." — Shepherd oj the YalUy, Oct. 22, 1853. 



94 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



THE CATHOLIC QUESTION— No. 3. 

The Catholic Church supreme over all authorities — Meddling in. Political 
Contests — Brownson's Review and the Boston Pilot reflecting the senti- 
ments of that, Church — Protestants advocating R,omanism — The Nashville 
Union in 1835. 

The Anti-American, Foreign-loving, Catholic admirers of the 
Locofoco school of politics, everywhere seek to frighten native 
Protestant citizens with the bugbear cry of religious proscription. 
But let Americans and Protestants watch with increased vigilance 
both the Roman and Locofoco Jesuits around them. To call the 
damnable and accursed system of political intrigue practised for 
past centuries by the Roman Church by the term Religion, is a 
solemn mockery of the hallowed word. Religion teaches love and 
obedience to God, and the legally constituted authorities of the 
country. Romanism teaches fear of and obedience to a crowned 
potentate called the Pope, and opposition to all Protestant govern- 
ments, as worthy to be cast down to hell ! The one tends to free 
and ennoble the soul : the other to enslave and debauch every 
faculty of man's nature which likens him to the Almighty ! The 
one is republican : the other is barbaric, and at war with every 
principle of free government ! 

The American party does oppose and denounce Romanism as a 
political system at ivar with American institutions ; and we here 
ask candid men to weigh the evidence we shall adduce to sustain 
this charge. We shall quote none other than Roman Catholic 
authority — the organs of Romanism — so as out of their own mouths 
to condemn them. Brownson's Review is the accredited organ of 
Romanism in the United States. He ostentatiously parades the 
names of the Archbishops and Bishops on the cover of his Review, 
to give it the stamp of authority, and asserts in the work : 

" I NEVER THINK OP PUBLISHING ANV THING IN REGARD TO THE CHURCH, WITH- 
OUT SUKM1TTING MY ARTICLES TO THE BlSHOP FOR INSPECTION, APPROVAL, AND 
ENDORSEMENT." 

Let us then look to his pages for an exposition of the doctrines 
of his Church. In the January number for 1853, he says: 



CATHOLIC PERSECUTION. 




HORRIBLE CRUELTIES INFLICTED BY THE CATHOLICS ON THE 
PROTESTANTS IN IRELAND, IN 1G41. 



WITII FOHEIGNISM. !'."» 

"For every Catholic at least, the Church ia the supreme judge of the ex- 
tent and limits of her power. She can be judged by no one j and this of itself 
implies her absolute supremacy, and that the temporal order must receive its 

laws from her." 

The uniform practice of the Church of Home has been, and still 
is, to assert her power — not in words, but in deeds — to GIVE OR 
TAKE AWAY CROWNS— to depose ungodly rulers, and to 
absolve their subjects from their "horrible" oaths of ALLEGIANCE! 

Again, in the July number for 1853, Brownson says : 

"The Church is supreme, and you have no power except what you hold in 

subordination to her, cither in spirituals or in temporals 

You no more have political than ecclesiastical independence. The Church 
alone, under God, is independent, and she defines both your powers and her-." 

"They have heard it said from their youth up that the Church has nothing 
to do with politics; that she has received no mission in regard to the political 
order." 

" In opposing the nonjuring bishops and priests, they believed they were 
only asserting their national rights as men, or as the State, and were merely 
resisting the unwarrantable assumption of the spiritual power. If they had 
been distinctly taught that the political authority is always subordinate to 
the spiritual, and had grown up in the doctrine that the nation is not compe- 
tent to define, in relation to the ecclesiastical power, its own rights — that the 
Church defines both its powers and her own, and thai though the nation may 
be, and ought to be, independent in relation to other nations, it has, and can 
have, no independence in the face of the Church, the kingdom of God on 
earth : they would have seen at a glance that support of the civil authority 
against the spiritual, no matter in what manner, was the renunciation of their 
faith as Catholics, and the actual or virtual assertion of the supremacy of the 
temporal power." 

In the same number, page 301, he says : 

" She (the Church) has the right to judge who has, or has not, according 
to the law of God, the right to reign: whether the prince has, by his infidel- 
ity, his misdeeds, his tyranny and oppression, forfeited his trust, and lost his 
right to the allegiance of his subjects; and therefore whether they arc still 
held to their allegiance, or are released from it by the law of God. If she 
have the right to judge, she has the right to pronounce judgment, and order 
its execution: therefore to pronounce sentence of deposition upon the prince 
who has forfeited his right to reign, and to declare his subjects absolved 
from their allegiance to him, and free to elect themselves a new sovereign." 

We might multiply authorities of this kind on this point, to an 
almost indefinite extent, from the debate between Bishop Hughes 
and Mr. Breckenridge, and the controversy between Hughes and 
Erastus Brooks, but it is wholly unnecessary. 

As early as 1844, the Catholics took their stand as a body in 
the arena of political strife ; and the illustrious Clay and the 
virtuous FitELiNGHUYSEN were the victims of their particular 
hostility. Mr. Frelinghuysen was the President of the Board of 
Foreign Missions, and this was made the excuse for the bitter 
animosity of the Catholic press, and of the clergy and membership 



96 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

of the Catholic sect, against Mr. Clay. Brownson, in his July 
number for 1844, in the very heat of the contest, thus assailed Mr. 
Clay: 

" He is ambitious, but short-sighted. He is abashed by no inconsistency, 
disturbed by no contradiction, and cart defend, with a firm countenance, with- 
out the least misgiving, what everybody but himself sees to be a political fal- 
lacy or logical absurdity. . . lie is no more disturbed by being convinced 
of moral insensibility, than intellectual absurdity. . . A man of rare abil- 
ities, but apparently void of both moral and intellectual conscience. . . . 
He is, therefore, a man whom no power under that of the Almighty can 
restrain ; he must needs be the most dangerous man to be placed at the head 
of affairs it is possible to conceive." 

The Boston Pilot, another Catholic organ, published under the 
eye of the Bishop, discloses the same plot, in its issue for the 31st 
of October, 1844, only six days before the election ! Here is what 
this organ said : 

"We say to all men in the United States, entitled to be naturalized, become 
citizens while you can — let nothing delay you for an hour — let no hindrance, 
short of mortal disease, banish you from the ballot-box. To those who are 
citizens, we say, vote your principles, whatever they may be — never desert 
them — do not be wheedled or terrified — but vote quietly, and unobtrusively. 
Leave to others the noisy warfare of words. Let your opinions be proved by 
your deliberate and determined action. We recommend you to no party ; we 
condemn no candidate but one, and he is Theodore Frelinghuysen. We have 
nothing to say to him as a Whig — we have nothing to say to Mr. Clay or any 
other Whig, as such — but to the President of the American Board of Foreign 
Missions, the friend and patron of the Kirks and Cones, we have much to say. 
We hate his intolerance — we dislike his associates — and shudder at the black- 
ness and bitterness of that school of sectarians to which he belongs, and 
amongst whom he is regarded as an authority." 

Protestants ! do you hear that ? Old Line Whigs ! do you hear 
that ? If so, do you think that Americans are warring upon civil 
and religious liberty, when they take an oath that they will rebuke 
such infamous sentiments ? These appeals of Brownson, Hughes, 
and the Pilot, had the effect to defeat the Clay ticket in New York, 
and that State lost him his election. The Catholics were all at the 
polls, andjjvoted for Polk and Dallas. On the 9th of November, 
1844, Frelinghuysen wrote to Mr. Clay as follows : 

" More than 3,000, it is confidently said, have been naturalized in this city 
(New York) alone since the first of October. It is an alarming fact that this 
foreign vote has decided the great questions of American policy, and con- 
tracted a nation's gratitude." 

And after they achieved the victory of 1844, Brownson came 
out with this avowal : 

" Heretofore we have taken our politics from one or another of the parties 
which divide the country, and have suffered the enemies of our religion to 
impose their political doctrine upon us ; but it is time for us to begin to teach 



with fui:!:i<;m.-m. 

the country itself those moral and poiiticfJ doctrine! which flow fjroxn the 
teachings of our own Church. We are al home here, wherever sre may hare 
been born; this is our country, and as it is to become THOROUGHLl Cit* 
THOLIC, we hare a deeper interest in publii than any other 

citizens. Theseotsar* only for a day; the Church for ei 

When Gen. Cass maije his speech in the Senate, in 1852, in 
favor of free worship and the rights of conscience for Americans 
abroad, reflecting on the Catholics byname, Brownson came out in 

his October number, and said : 

"We arc glad to see Gen. Cass laid on the shelf, fur wo can never support 
a man who turns radical in his old age." 

In the same number, Brownson continues: 

"The sorriest sight to us is a Catholic tin-owing up his cap and shouting, 
'All hail, Democracy !' " 

This too at the very time he was supporting the Democratic 
party in the Presidential contest ! lie would sooner have heard 
the cry, "All hail, Catholicism ! " and he was only using Democracy 
as an instrument to advance his primary wish! 

"We offer no comments on the foregoing extracts, of our own, but 
leave every reader to judge for himself. The price of liberty is 
eternal vigilance. We apply the remark to religious as well as 
civil liberty. All we ask of the people is to be vigilant. Do not 
support men at the ballot-box who are in league with these enemies 
of our Eepublic, and of the Protestant religion ! 

Behold the enemy is at our gates ! A foreign priest has been lec- 
turing here in Knoxville, within the last ten days, avowing senti- 
ments similar to these, and claiming that this country would ulti- 
mately become a Catholic country ! The crisis is approaching ! 
Rouse up, Americans, and hasten to your country's salvation ! 
Not a moment is to be lost ! God and our country, must be the 
watchword of every Christian and patriot, of every political party 
in the land. America expects us all to do our duty ! 

And is there no cause for alarm? 

Eighteen months ago, a Protestant minister, Baptist, Methodist, 
or Presbyterian, might expose llomanism, and warn his congrega- 
tion against its corrupting influences, for hours at a time — come 
down out of his pulpit, and his congregation would, without dis- 
tinction of party, say, "Well done, good and faithful servant !" 

But let him now dare allude to Romanism — he offends one-half 
of his congregation — he is preaching politics — they will hear him 
no more; or forsooth, which is more common, they will withhold 
his support and starve him out ! Are not these signs alarming ? 

But here in Tennessee, Protestant Tennessee, on the loth of 
7 



98 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

May, 1855, the Nashville Daily Union, the organ of the self- 
styled Democratic party, came out at the Capital of the State 
with this daring broadside against the Protestant clergy and their 
religion : 

"A Church that can boast of an existence of thirteen centuries — passing 
through all the various vicissitudes of her eventful career unscathed, can 
certainly show, with all her atrocious barbarity, many bright spots which 
may be placed in favorable contrast Avith the Protestant Church, with its thou- 
sand and one wrangling sects. Men are beginning to see through the trans- 
parent gauze that veils this Know-Nothing movement. They are beginning 
fcq ask 'What has Protestantism done for the world? What has she done to 
alleviate and elevate the down-trodden ? Is the race any better off for having 
accepted her faith ? These REVEREND HYPOCRITES— these scribes and 
pharisees, are treading on a terrible volcano. They will find their treasonable 
schemes and infernal plotting against the liberties of man tried and condemned 
by the pure light of God's own truth and love, which shines and throbs in 
every pulsation of humanity's heart. If Protestantism prove recreant to her 
high trust, she will have to pass the ordeal of enlightened public opinion and 
be consigned to her merited obscurity. 

" Popery, '/with all its crimes against God and man, adapts itself to the times 
and to the circumstances, and thus saves itself from being absorbed in the 
mass of conflicting elements." 



WITH F0BEIGNI8M. 99 



THE CATHOLIC QUESTION— No. 4. 

A Catholic Priest the Minister from the Rivas-Waiker Government — Nicara- 
gua, Texas, and Gen. Jackson — Bishop Hughes and Orestes Bro^ isou — 
Buchanan bidding for the Catholic vote — A. E. Stephens, of < -Lord 

Baltimore and Religious Toleration. 

Three months ago, Parker II. French arrived in Was 
as the Representative of the Walker Government of Nicaragua — 
an American-born citizen and a Protestant — but the Government 
declined to recognize him. upon the ground that Walker's Govern- 
ment -was not established even de facto. Since then, our Govern- 
ment has recognized Walker's Government, and endorsed his war 
upon Costa Rica, although the former objection of our Govern- 
ment lies with as much force against such recognition now as it 
did three months ago. That the approach of the Cincinnati Con- 
vention, and the importance of conciliating the " Young American" 
wing, and the Filibustering division of the Democratic party, had 
great influence in producing this recognition, there can be no sort 
of doubt. But a still more palpable reason why this Government 
gave its sanction to the Rivas-Walker Government is, that Padre 
Vi.jil, the second Minister sent here, is a ROMAN CATHOLIC 
PRIEST, and a shrewd Spaniard — better understands the influences 
that prevail at Washington. When we remember that a Roman 
Catholic, and a member of the Order of Jesuits, is a member of 
Pierce's Cabinet, the Postmaster-General — and when we remember 
that Democracy now, without the Catholic-Foreign vote, is al . 
nullity in the United States, we have a clear solution of this pre- 
ference given the Spanish priest, Padre Vijil, over the American 
citizen, but a few weeks afterwards ! As a sign of the times, the fad 
is one worthy of note. It shows, at least, that when Protestantism 
cannot prevail with the Administration of Pierce, Roman ' 
cism can ; and that hence, when we proclaim the power of the 
Pope, even in America, we but utter demonstrable facts. 1!' 
ism is even canning Democracy from all its old wayside land-marks. 
In December, 1836, Gex. Jackson sent a special message to the 
Senate of the United States, in relation to a proposition to re 



100 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

nize the new Government of Texas, and lie gave reasons against 
it, which are exactly applicable to this Rivas- Walker affair : 

" Upon the issue," he says, "of this threatened invasion by Mexico, the inde- 
pendence of Texas may be considered as suspended ; and were there nothing 
peculiar in the relative situation of the United States and Texas, our acknow- 
ledgments of its independence at such a crisis could scarcely be considered 
as consistent with that prudent reserve with which we have heretofore held our- 
selves bound to treat all similar questions." 

The existing Government of Nicaragua is in a far more critical 
condition now than that of Texas was in 1886, when Gen. Jack- 
son went on to say : 

" It becomes us to beware of a too early movement, as it might subject us, 
however unjustly, to the imputation of seeking to establish the claim of our 
neisrhbors to a territory, with a view to its subsequent acquisition by ourselves. 
Prudence, therefore, seems to dictate that we should still stand aloof, and 
maintain our present attitude, if not until Mexico itself, or one of the great 
foreign powers, shall recognize the independence of the new Government, at 
least until the lapse of time or the course of events shall have proved, beyond 
cavil or dispute, the ability of the people of that country to maintain their 
separate sovereignty, and to uphold the Government constituted by them. 
Neither of the contending parties can justly complain of this course. By 
pursuing it, we are but carrying out the long-established policy of our Gov- 
ernment — a policy winch has secured to us respect and influence abroad, and 
inspired confidence at home." 

But Romanism is rapidly leading Democracy to the Devil ! Arch- 
bishop Hughes — the head and front of the Papal Hierarchy in 
this country — has openly declared the grand aim and object of the 
Catholic Church is " TO MAKE ROME THE DISTRICT OF 
COLUMBIA FOR THE WHOLE WORLD !" This same Arch- 
bishop is now engaged in raising an immense fund, for the avowed 
purpose of establishing a College in Rome, for the education of 
a high order of Priests and Jesuits for the United States ; the Ro- 
man Pontiff deeming the education of Priests defective if obtained 
in this land of liberty I This same Archbishop Hughes has now 
actively enlisted for the Presidential contest, for 1856, in order, to 
use his own language, a TO break the spinal cord of the Amer- 
ican party." The Irish Catholic vote is to be fused with the 
Black Republicans in the North, to prevent the success of the Fill- 
more ticket, and the Irish and German Catholic vote is to be cast 
for Democracy in the South and North- West — the Archbishop 
stipulating for special legislation for Rome, and for promoting this 
mammoth college ! 

Orestes Brownson, a leading Catholic authority, and the editor 
of Archbishop Hughes's organ — one of the most zealous as well as 
able advocates of Romanism in America — declares : " THE POPE 
IS MY INTERPRETER OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 
THE UNITED STATES!" The Supreme Court at Washing- 



WITH POBHIONTSM. 101 

ton is subordinate to the Vatican, situated al the foot of one of 
the seven hills upon which Rome is built! Through the influence 
of the Jesuit who is a member of Pierce's cabinet, the Papal 
Nuncio, who was Bent from Rome two years ago, clothed with for* 
<■/':/» authority, was received by our government al Washing 
and scut around the lakes to the North-West al government ex- 
pense : and allowed to adjudicate upon a secular question A l-TK< ST- 
ING TI-KRITORIAL JURISDICTION in the great Stat 
New York ! 

Mr. Buchanan, one of the several candidates before the Cincin- 
nati Convention for the Presidential nomination, said, in a public 
speech in Baltimore, just before the meeting of that Convention. 
by way of bidding for the Catholic vote: 

" In the age of religious bigotry ami intolerance, Lord Baltimore was the 
first legislator who proclaimed the sacred rights of <u . and established 

for the government of his colony the principle, cot merely <•(' toleration, but 
perfect religious freedom and equality among all Beets i f Christians." 

Lord Baltimore was a Catholic; and witli a view to enlist the 
same influence, Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, sent 
forth a published speech last summer, from which we make the 
following extract : 

"The Catholic colony of Maryland, organized under the auspices of Lord 
Baltimore, was tin; first to establish the principle of free toleration in religi- 
ous worship on this continent. 

'•The Colony of Maryland afforded protection to all persecuted a 

Now, in order to judge of Mr. Buchanan's "perfect religious 
freedom and equality," and Mr. Stephens's "principle of free 
toleration" let us examine an Act passed April 21, lti4!>, v 
Lord Baltimore was in the zenith of his power : 

" Denying the Holy Trinity is to he punished with death, and confiscation 
of land _ and goods to the Lord Proprietary (Lord Baltimore himself!) Per- 
sons using any reproachful words concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the 
Holy Apostles or Evangelists, to be lined t'.j, or in default of payment to be 
publicly whipped and /. at thepleasun ofhi& Lordship,! Lord Balti- 

more himself!) or of his Lieutenant-General." Set Laws oj Ma 
large, by T. Bacon, A. D. 1765. hi and L7 C< silius's Lord Baltim* 

S. F. Streeter, Esq., of Baltimore, is the author of a work 
entitled "Maryland two hundred years ago." In this work, at 
page 2G, Mr. Streeter says : 

" The policy of Lord Baltimore, in regard to religious matter.- in i 
has, in seme particulars at least, been misapprehended and misstated. 

The assertion has inn- passed uncontradicted, thai toleration was promised 
to the colonists in the first conditions of p] i; that the rights of 

conscience were recognized in a law passed by the first assembly held in the 
colony; and that, the principal officers from the year L636 or '37, bound them- 
selves by on oath not to mi li ccount of his religion any one profe 



102 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

I o believe in Jesus Christ. I can find no authority for any of these statements. 
Lord Baltimore's first and earlier conditions of plantation breathe not a word 
on the subject of religion : no act recognizing the principle of toleration was 
passed in the first or in any following assembly, until fifteen years after the 
first settlement, at which time (1649) a Protestant had been appointed 
Governor, and a majority of the Burgesses were of the same faith ; and when, 
in, the first time, a clause involving a promise not to molest any person pro- 
fessing to believe in Jesus Christ, the words "and particularly a Roman 
Catholic," were inserted by the direction of Lord Baltimore in the official 
oath." 

McMahon, the tried friend of Lord Baltimore, speaking on this 
same subject, says : 

•• The proprietary dominion (Lord B.'s) had never known that hour, (when 
there was opportunity to persecute.) The Protestant religion was the estab- 
lished religion of the mother country, and any effort on the part of the Pro- 
prietary (Lord B.) to oppress its followers would have drawn down destruction 
on his government. The great bod// -of the colonists were themselves Protest- 
ants, and, by their number and their participation in the government, they 
were fully equal to their own protection, and too powerful for the Proprie- 
taries in the event of an open collision." 

Thus it will he seen that in Maryland, as everywhere else, in all 
past ages, so far as toleration is concerned, it was granted to 
Catholics — never by them. 



WITH FOBEIGNISM. 103 



THE CATHOLIC QUESTION— ]SV 5. 

Popish aims at supremacy — Avowals by distinguished Catholics — The order 

of Jesuits — Stavtliiii;- (liselusures ami authentic references! — The strength 
of Romanism in the Uhil 

The Romish hierarchy aims at supremacy in the Church and 
the State. It is nothing more nor less than a great political sys- 
tem, arrogating to itself the right to sway the spiritual and tem- 
poral concerns of men — a right it claims to have derived from 
God, and that therefore the Romish Church is above all, and may 
rule all. Hence the conspiracy against our government emanating 
from the Vatican, and planned by the Pope, his Cardinals and 
Bishops, in the late grand council at Rome ! They there and then 
resolved on affecting the objects of the Leopold Foundation, es- 
tablished in Vienna, May 13, 1820, to support Catholic mission- 
aries in the United States. Every member of this Society — and 
its branches are numerous, being scattered over the whole earth — 
agrees to offer prayers daily to St. Leopold, and every week to 
contribute as much as a crucifix. The valley of the Mississippi 
has been surveyed and mapped by the Jesuits, under the directions 
of the Vatican, and Popish Cardinals in Europe arc boasting of 
the certainty of their subjecting this land of freedom at no distant 
day to papal supremacy! Rev. Dr. JAMES, an eminent clergyman 
of England, says : 

"The Church of Rome has determined to compensate herself for her losses 
in the old world, by her conquest in the new." 

Hence, too, a Papal editor in Europe conducting a Catholic 
organ, and advising vigorous measures for the extension of Papal 
power, says : 

"We must make haste — the moments are precious — America may b< 
the centre of civilization." 

The Rev. Dr. Reze, of Detroit, a priest of distinction, who is 
now in custody at Rome, a few years since, writing from Michigan 
to his master, the Pope, says : 

"TVe shall see the truth triumph — the temple of idols overthrown — the 
Beat of falsehood brought to silence — and all the United States embraced in 



104 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

the Bame faith of that Catholic Church, wherein dwell truth and temporal 
happiness/' 

A Catholic priest in Indiana told a Protestant minister, an able 
Methodist clergyman, in a controversy, " The time will come when 
Catholics will make Protestants wade knee-deep in blood in the 
valley of the Mississippi !" 

Bishop England, one of their master-spirits in this country, in a 
letter to the Pope written from Charleston, and which was so good 
that his Holiness caused it to be published, said : 

" Within thirty years, the Protestant heresy will come to an end. If we 
can secure the West and South, we will take care of New England." 

This same dignitary said to his brethren at Vienna in that memor- 
able letter, by way of advice and encouragement : 

" All that is necessary is money and priests, to subjugate the mock liberties 
of America." 

The Jesuits profess to be a more devoted branch of the Pope's 
army than any other order. The Abbe De Pradt, formerly Roman 
Archbishop at Malines, calls them "the Pope's zealous militia:" 
another correctly calls them "the Pope's body-guard, organized 
for the express purpose of defending the Papal See, and undertak- 
ing a spiritual crusade against heretics." Pius VII., in his Bull 
of August 7, 1814, reestablishing the order, which Clement XIV. 
had suppressed, says : " We would be guilty of a great crime," if, 
amid the dangers threatening the Papal interests, and " if, placed 
in the barque of Peter, tossed and assailed by continual storms, 
we refused to employ the vigorous and experienced rowers who 
volunteer their services in order to break the waves of a sea which 
threatens every moment shipwreck and death." 

The presumption is, that "these vigorous and experienced 
rowers who thus volunteer their services," have some moving prin- 
ciple, some hidden spring, which moves with that oneness and con- 
stancy under all discouragements. The watch does not show the 
spring that sets it in motion : who that looks at its face and ob- 
serves the movement of the hands will doubt that it is there, and 
that they move in proportion to the strength or weakness of that 
spring ? 

The old Romans used to swear their soldiers : the Roman Church 
swears even her private members. Read the following from the 
creed : " I solemnly promise, vow, and sivear true obedience to the 
Roman bishop," &c. "This true Catholic faith, out of which there 
is no salvation, &c. — I promise, vow, and sivear most constantly to 
hold and profess the same, whole and entire, with God's assistance, 
to the end of my life, and procure, as far as lies in my power, that 



CATHOLIC PERSECUTION. 




HORRIBLE CRUELTIES BY CATHOLICS. 



WITB BOMCKUflBM. 105 

the same shall be held, taught, and preached by nil who arc under 
me," &c. "I also profess and undoubtedly receive all ©therthings 
delivered, defined, and declared by thi sacred oanons and general 
councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trenl ; and, like- 
wise, I also condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary 
o, and all heresies whatsoever, condemned, rejected, and 
anathematized by the Church." 

The Jesuits are more strict, subservient, devoted td the Vatican, 
than any other wing of the Catholic Church. In the second vol- 
ume of the constitutions of the Jesuits, under the heading of obedi- 
ence to superiors ) is written : 

" You shall always see Jesus Christ in the I reneraL'' 

■• \ mi shall obey him in every thing. Sour obedience Bhall be boundless 
in the execution, in the will and 'understanding. ?ou shall persuade your- 
selves that God speaks in his mouth : that when he orders, God himself orders. 
You shall execute his command immediately, with joy and with steadiness." 

"You shall be in his hands a dead body, which he will govern, move, place, 
displace, according to his will." 

Under these teachings, says ArnaULD, a student in a college of 
Jesuits stated, on hearing of the implicit obedience of another : 

"I would have done still more. Were God to order me, through the 
of my superior, to put fco death father, mother, children, brothers, and sisters, 
I would do it with an eye as tearless and a heart as calm as if I were si 
at the banquet of the Paschal lamb." 

Andrew B. Cross, of Baltimore, in a recent publication, says : 

"As early as 1624, the University of Paris charged them with being gov- 
erned by 'secret laws.' In 1G49, Palafox, Bishop of Angelopolis, in his letter 
to Innocent X., accuses them of having 'a secret constitution, hidden privi- 
leges, and concealed laws of their own.' " 

What will our Democratic Protestant opposers of Know Nothing 
secret lodges say to this? What will our Democratic advocates of 
Popery say to the principles of such an organization, and to its 
"horrible oaths?" But hear the Roman Catholic King of Portu- 
gal, in his manifesto to his Bishops, in 1759, only ninety-seven 
years ago : 

" In order to form the union, the consistency, and the strength of the B< 
there should be a government not only monarchical, but so sovereign, so ab- 
solute, bo despotic, that even the Provincials themselves should uri have it m 
their power, by any act of theirs, to resist or retard the execution of the orders 
of the General. By this legislative, inviolable and despotic power; by the 
profound devotedness of the subjects of this company to mysfc with 

which they are not themselves acquainted ; by the blind and passive obedience 
with which they are compelled to execute, without hesitation or reply, what- 
ever their superiors command," &c. 

But our Democratic anti-Know Nothings not only object to our 
having formerly kept our ritual concealed, but especially to our 



100 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

denial of the existence of our organization. Let them procure a 
copy of the secret instructions of the Jesuits, styled u Seer eta 
Monita" and in the preface they will find these lovely words : 

" The greatest care imaginable must be also taken that these instructions do 
not fall into the hands of strangers, &c. ; if they should, let it be positively 
denied that these are the principles of the society," &e. 

But again : > 

"Auquetil, in the fourth volume, page 333, of his History of Trance, gives 
an account of the celebrated case of the bankruptcy of the Rev. Father Jesuit 
La Valette, the Jesuit agent, for three million francs. Their ships had been 
taken by the English ; the bankers in Marseilles, who had accepted bills of 
exchange to the amount of one and a half millions, required prompt payment. 
They wrote to De Sacy, the General Procurator of the Missions ; he wrote to the 
General at Rome, but the General died at .the same time ; and before a new 
General could be elected, and an order sent to pay the money, the Fathers had 
become bankrupt, and suits were instituted. After delay and manoeuvre on 
their part, the case came on unexpectedly in 17G0. All the Jesuits were ac- 
cused. They tried to lay the guilt upon La Valette, but the bankers charged 
that all the Jesuits were under the General, and La Valette was only agent. 
In this sad condition they proposed to prove, according to their constitutions, 
that as a society their body possessed nothing, that all belonged to each col- 
lege-house, convent, &c. The proposal of the Jesuits was accepted. On the 
8th of May, 1761, after trial, the Parliament condemned the General and all 
the society to pay bills, costs, damages, &c, which they did without selling 
any of their property. 

" It was in this evil hour to the Jesuits that their constitutions, which had 
been acted upon for two hundred years in secret, were brought to light. 
Rules and constitutions may be in existence and acted upon, when it would be 
impossible to obtain a copy from any one who was sufficiently advanced in the 
order to be trusted with a copy." 

It will astonish American Protestants to be told how numerous, 
influential, and strong the Catholics are in this land of liberty ! 
They have 7 archbishops, 40 bishops, 1704 priests, 1824 churches, 
21 colleges, 37 ecclesiastical institutions for the education of priests 
and Jesuits, 117 female academies, all of which are, in reality, 
Convents. Nuns, priests, and Jesuits are the professors, teachers, 
and matrons ; and, strange to say, Protestant young ladies are 
their chief supporters ! 

The Romish Hierarchy is far more numerous in Protestant 
America, than in any Catholic country on earth. Their strength 
in America equals what it is in Ireland, Scotland, and England 
combined ! How extensive is this religious organization in our 
land : how subtle ! Its ramifications are all so many arteries, 
which receive their life's blood from the heart at Rome, and return 
it there by its regular palpitations ! It is now concentrating its 
arteries at Washington City, and is promised "aid and comfort" 
from the great Democratic party — a party fast becoming the foe 
of true liberty, and of the evangelical Protestant faith. 



WITH FOBEIGNISM. 1". 



THE CATHOLIC QUESTION— No. 6. 

The Oath of b Bishop— Oath of a Priest- Oath of a Jesuit— Oath of a San 
lVili-ti — Oath of an [rish Ribbon-man — The Romish Curse 1 

In this chapter we will exhibit the "horrible oaths" of the vari- 
ous grades of Catholics, from a, Bishop down to a private rm rriber — 
even to the "Irish Ribbon-men," thousands of av1k.ui swarm the 
United States. To these we will add the oath of the " Order of 
San Fedisti," an infamous secret society established in Italy, and 
introduced for the first time into this country by that prince of 
murderers, Bedini, the Pope's Nuncio; who was honored with a 
steamer at the expense of our government, Pierce at its head, to 
sail round our northern lakes, organizing these infamous societies. 
Last of all, we give the ROMISH CURSE, which is in full force 
and power in all Catholic countries, and is even pronounced pub- 
licly in our large cities, upon renegades from the Catholic faith. 

These oaths will he found commencing on page 42 of "A 
Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy. By Rev. Isaac Barrow, D. D. 
Second American Edition, 1844." By this author, the Latin is 
given and then translated. The same, in part, will ho found in 
the debate between Mr. Breckenridge, of the Presbyterian 
Church, and Archbishop Hughes, and by the latter publicly 
acknowledged to be genuine, before a Baltimore audience who 
heard the discussion ! 

But these particular forms of oaths in question, which reckless 
Catholics and unprincipled Democrats deny, were published in Eng- 
land by Archbishop Usher, whose correctness and reliability is 
equal to that of any man. These oaths will be found in a volume 
entitled "Foxes and Firebrands," from a collection of papers by 
Archbishop Usher, and it is there stated that "it remains on 
record at Paris, among the Society of Jesus," and was drawn up 
in that form to Urban VIII., in 1642, when he revived the bull of 
Pious Y., which had slumbered seventy-three years. These oaths, 
as published, contain nothing which i's not taught by Topes and 
Councils, Priests and Jesuits. Examine these oaths, and this 
curse, and answer us the question, Can men taking them, and 
subscribing to their doctrines, make citizens of this Republic? 



108 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

OATH OF THE BISHOPS. 

" I, G. N., elect of the church of N., from henceforth will be faithful and 
obedient to St. Peter the Apostle, and to the holy Roman Church, and to our 
lord, the lord N. Pope N., and to his successors canonically coining in. I will 
neither advise, consent, nor do any thing that they may lose life or member, 
or that their persons may be seized or hands anywise laid upon them, or any 
injuries offered to them, under any pretence whatsoever. The counsel which 
they shall intrust me withal by themselves, their messengers, or letters, I will 
not knowingly reveal to any to their prejudice. I will help them to defend 
and keep the Roman Papacy and the royalties of St. Peter, saving my order 
against all men. The legate of the Apostolic see, going and coining, I will 
honorably treat, and help in his necessities. The rights, honors, privi- 
leges, and authority of the holy Roman Church, of our lord the Pope, and his 
aforesaid successors, I will endeavor to preserve, defend, increase, and advance. 
I will not be in any council, action, or treaty, in which shall be plotted against 
our said lord and the said Roman Church, any thing to the hurt or prejudice 
of their persons, right, honor, state, or power ; and if I shall know any such 
thing to be treated or agitated by any whomsoever, I will hinder it all that I 
can ; and as soon as I can, will signify it to our said lord, or to some other, 
by whom it may come to his knowledge. The rules of the Holy Fathers, the 
Apostolic decrees, ordinances, or disposals, reservations, provisions, and man- 
dates, I will observe with all my might, and cause by others. Heretics, 
Schismatics, and Rebels to our said lord, or his aforesaid successors, I will to 
the utmost of my power persecute and oppose. I will come to a council when 
I am called, unless I am hindered by a canonical impediment. I will, by my- 
self in person, visit the threshold of the Apostles every three years ; and give 
an account to our lord, and his aforesaid successors, of all my pastoral office, 
and of all things anywise belonging to the state of my church, to the disci- 
pline of my clergy and people, and, lastly, to the salvation of souls committed 
to my trust; and will, in like manner, humbly receive and diligently execute 
the Apostolic commands. And if I be detained by a lawful impediment, I will 
perform all things aforesaid by a certain messenger hereto specially empowered, 
a member of my Chapter or some other in ecclesiastical dignity, or else having 
a parsonage ; or in default of these, by a priest of the diocese ; or in default 
of one of the clergy, (of the diocese,) by some other secular or regular priest 
of approved integrity and religion, fully instructed in all things above men- 
tioned. And such impediment I will make out by lawful proofs, to be trans- 
mitted by the aforesaid messenger to the Cardinal proponent of the holy 
Roman Church, in the Congregation of the Sacred Council. The possessions 
belonging to my table, I will neither sell ner give away, mortgage nor grant 
anew in fee, nor anywise alienate, no, not even with consent of the Chapter 
of my Church, without consulting the Roman Pontiff. And if I shall make 
any alienation, I will thereby incur the penalties contained in a certain Con- 
stitution put forth about this matter. 

" So help me God, and these holy Gospels of God." 

OATH OP THE PRIESTS. 

" I, A. B., do acknowledge the ecclesiastical power of his holiness ; and the 
mother Church of Rome, as the chief head and matron above all pretended 
churches throughout the whole earth ; and that my zeal shall be for St. Peter 
and his successors, as the founder of the true and ancient Catholic faith, against 
all heretical kings, princes, states, or powers repugnant to the same ; and 
although I, A. B., may follow, in case of persecution or otherwise, to be here- 
tically despised, yet in soul and conscience I shall hold, aid, and succor the 



WTTB ITORBIONISlf. lo'.i 

mother Church of Rome, as the true, ancient, and apostolic Church. 1, A. I'.., 
further do declare not to actor control any matter or thing prejudicial unto 
her, in her Bacred orders, doctrines, tenets, or commands, withoul ' 
Bupreme power or its authority, under her appointed ; and being so permitted, 
then tu act and further her interests more than mj own earthl 
earthly pleasure, as she and 1 1 « ■ c Head, his Holiness, and hie successors have, 
or ought to have, the supremacy over all kings, prim. . or powers 

whatsoever, either to deprive them of their crowns, sceptres, powers, privi- 
leges, realms, countries, or governments, or to sot up others in Lieu th< 
they dissenting from the mother Church and her commands." 

OATH OF THE JESUITS. 

"I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary, 
the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy 
apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the saints and hosts of heaven, and to 
you my ghostly father, do declare from my heart, without mental reservation, 

that his Holiness Pope is Christ's Vicar General, and is the true and only 

Head of the Catholic or universal Church throughout the earth; and by the 
virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Saviour 
Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, com- 
monwealths, and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirma- 
tion, and that they may safely lie destroyed: THEREFORE, to the utmost of my 
power, I shall and -will defend this doctrine, and his Holiness' rights and 
customs, against all usurpers of the heretical (or Protestant) authority what- 
soever; especially against the now pretended authority and Church of ting- 
land, and all adherents, in regard that they and she be usurpal and heretical, 
opposing the sacred mother Church of Home, 1 do renounce and disown any 
allegiance as due to Protestants, or ohedience to any of their inferior magis- 
trates or officers. I do further declare the doctrine of the Church of England, 
the Calvinists, Huguenots, and of others of the name Protestants, to be dam- 
nable, and that they themselves are damned, and to he damned, that will not 
forsake the same. I do further declare, that 1 will help, assist, and advise all 
or any of his Holiness' agents, in any place wherever I shall he, in England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, or in any other territory or kingdom I shall cone to, 
and do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestant's doctrine, and to 
destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise. 1 do further promise 
and declare, that notwithstanding 1 am dispensed with, to assume any n 
heretical, for the propagating of the mother Church's interest, to keep secret 
and private all her agents' counsels, from time to time, as they intrust me, 
and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing, or circumstance, 
whatever, hut to execute till that shall be proposed, given in charge, or dis- 
covered unto me, by you my ghoBtly father, or any of this sacred convent. 
All which, 1, A. B.,\lo swear, by the blessed Sacrament 1 am now to receive, 
to perform, and on my part to keep inviolable; and do call all the heavenly 
and glorious host of heaven to witness these my real intentions to keep this, 
my oath. In testimony hereof, I take this most holy and blessed sacrament of 
the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my hand and seal, in the 
face of this holy convent this day — An. Dom., etc." 

OATH OF THE SAN FEDISTI. 

"I, Son of the Holy Faith, No. — . promise and swear to sustain the altar 
and the Papal throne, to exterminate heretics, liberals, and till enemies of the 
Church, without pity for the cries of children, or of men and women. So help 
me God." 



110 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



OATH OF THE IRISH RIBBON-MEN. 

" I, Patrick McKcnna, swear by Saints Peter and Paul, and by the blessed 
Virgin Mary, to be always faithful to the Society (of Ribbon-men) ; to keep 
and conceal all the secrets, and its words of order ; to be always ready to exe- 
cute the commands of my superior officers, and; as far as it shall lie in my 
power, to extirpate all heretics, and all the Protestants, and to walk in their 
blood to the knee ! May the Virgin Mary and all saints help me I To-day, 
the 2d of July, 1852. 

"Pat. McKenxa, from Ti/davenet." 

The following are the curses pronounced by the Papal Church 
against all who leave it for any Evangelical Church : 

THE ROMISH CURSE. 

" By the authority of God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and 
the undefiled Virgin Mary, mother and patroness of our Saviour, and of all 
celestial virtues, Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Cherubim, 
and Seraphim ; and of all the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and of all the 
Apostles and Evangelists, of the Holy Innocents, who in the sight of the Holy 
Lamb are found worthy to sing the new song of the Holy Martyrs and Holy 
Confessors, and of all the Holy Virgins, and of all Saints together with the 
holy elect of God ; may he, , be damned. We excommunicate and ana- 
thematize him from the threshold of the Holy Church of God Almighty. We 
sequester him, that he may be tormented, disposed, and be delivered over 
with Dathan and Abiram, and with those who say unto the Lord: 'Depart 
from us, we desire none of thy ways :' as a fire is quenched with water, so let 
the light of him be put out for evermore, unless he shall repent him and make 
satisfaction. Amen ! 

" May the Father, who creates man, curse him ! May the Son, who suffered 
for us, curse him ! May the Holy Ghost, who is poured out in Baptism, curse 
him ! May the Holy Cross, which Christ, for our salvation, triumphing over 
his enemies, ascended, curse him ! 

" May the Holy Mary, ever virgin and mother of God, curse him ! May St. 
Michael, the advocate of the Holy Souls, curse him ! May all the Angels, 
Principalities, and Powers, and all Heavenly Armies, curse him ! May the 
glorious band of the Patriarchs and Prophets curse him ! 

" May St. John the Precursor, and St. John the Baptist, and St. Peter, and 
St. Paul, and St. Andrew, and all other of Christ's Apostles together, curse 
him ! And may all the rest of the Disciples and Evangelists, who, by their 
preaching converted the universe, and the holy and wonderful company of 
Martyrs and Confessors, who by their works are found pleasing to God 
Almighty, curse him ! May the holy choir of the Holy Virgins, who for the 
honor of Christ have despised the things of the world, damn him ! May all 
the saints from the beginning of the world to everlasting ages, who are found 
to be beloved of God, damn him ! 

" May he be damned wherever he be, whether in the house, or in the alley, 
or in the water, or in the church ! May he be cursed in living and dying ! 

" May he be cursed in eating and drinking, in being hungry, in being 
thirsty, in fasting, and sleeping, in slumbering, and in sitting, in living, in 
working, in resting, and * * * and in blood-letting. 

" May he be cursed in all the faculties of his body ! 

|* May he be cursed inwardly and outwardly! May he be cursed in his 
hair; cursed be he in his brains, and in his vertex, in his temples, in his eye- 



WITH PORBIGNISM. Ill 

brows, in his cheeks, in his jaw-bone . in his nostrils, io his teeth and grinders, 
in his lips, in his Bhoulders, in his arms, in bis fingers! 

"Maj he be damned in his month, in his breast, in his heart, and parte 
nances, down to the pen stomach ! 

"May he be cursed in his reins and his groins; in his thighs, in his geni- 
tals, and in his hips, and in his knees, his legs, and his feet, and b 

•• May he he cursed in all his joints, and artioulation of the members ; from 
the crown of Ins head to the Bolesof his feet may there be bo soundness I 

"May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of His Majesty, 
curse him! And may heaven, with all the powers thai move therein, n 
against him, and curse and damn him ; unless he repent and make satisfac- 
tion! Amen! So he it. Be it SO. Amen!" 

Now, we ask all candid men whose eyes have not been blinded 
by the dust of Popery and Democracy, can a Bishop or Priest, a 
Jesuit or Catholic, with these oaths upon their souls, be true Amer- 
ican citizens ? Not without the guilt of perjury, as black as the 
altar of a Roman Confessional! And if guilty of Buch perjury, 
the penitentiary should ho their canonical residence for life! 
Strange to say, however, the Chief Justice of the United S 1 
Roger B. Taney, is a Roman Catholic! Gen. Tierce's Postmaster- 
General, James Campbell, is both a Roman Catholic, and a mem- 
ber of the Order of Jesuits, having taken this very oath ! Roman 
Catholics are now on the Federal Bench in the United States: 
Roman Catholics fill the offices of Attorneys-general ; Roman Ca- 
tholics represent this Government abroad ; and Roman Catholics 
fill post-offices, land-offices, and a variety of offices at home, out of 
which Protestants were driven by Pierce's Administration, to make 
room for them ! 



112 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



LETTER FROM THOMAS A. R. NELSON, ESQ. 

This gentleman, an able lawyer of East Tennessee, a member 
of the Presbyterian Church, and a member of the American 
party, was nominated an Elector for the State of Tennessee at 
large, by the American State Convention at Nashville, in February 
last. Though an ardent American — a great friend of Mr. Fill- 
m0 re — and a member of the late Philadelphia Convention, and 
aided in the nomination of Maj. Donelson, he has been reluctantly 
compelled to decline the position of Elector. Under date of May 
30, 1856, he addressed a letter of nine columns, of great force and 
ability, to Messrs. A. W. Johnson, Robert 0. Foster, 3d., John H. 
Callcnder, William N. Bilbo, Sam I. Pritchett,"and E. D. Farns- 
worth, State Executive Committee of the American Party, Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, declining the position. Although we regret his 
inability to serve, as do the whole party in this State, yet, if his 
letter could be placed in the hands of every voter in the State^ we 
would be willing to risk the contest without further discussion. 
Such is our estimate of this document. For the benefit of "Old 
Line Whigs," and such Democrats as are disposed to excuse and 
apologise for Romanism, we give the four concluding columnsof 
this letter. The five preceding columns are mainly occupied with 
an outline and defence of the action of the Philadelphia Nominat- 
ing Convention, and a discussion of the slavery question — questions 
we had discussed in this work before this document came to hand. 
Mr. Nelson concludes thus : 

" The Foreigners and Catholics were directly appealed to in the Presiden- 
tial elections of 1848 and 1852. Who does not remember that, immediately 
preceding the election in 1844, fraudulent naturalization papers were manu- 
factured in New York ? Who has forgotten the Plaquemines fraud in Louisi- 
ana? Who has not heard of the abuse of Mr. Frelinghuysen _ for no other 
cause than that he was the President of the American Bible Society ? 

" But, without dwelling upon other illustrations, look to the Democratic 
platform of 1852, and read the 8th section of the third resolution, which is in 
the following words: 

"'That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of 
Independence and sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours the land 
of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been 
cardinal principles in the Democratic faith, and every attempt to abridge the 



WITH FOUENJNISM. I 1 '■) 

present privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us, ought 
to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien end sedition laws 

from our statute !> >oks.' 

"During t he last election in Tennessee, it was often said bj Democrats that 
they were just as much opposed to the immigration of foreign criminals and 
paupers as members of the American party, hut would nol attach themselves 
to the latter because of their objections to its organization. Bui the Demo 
oratic Platform of L852 contains no exception against criminals and paupers. 
The naturalisation laws have, in practice, been found inadequate to their exclu- 
sion, and the platform, in effect, avows unqualified adherence to them without 
abridgement or modification. 

"These laws are, in substance, declared bo have 'ever been cardinal }>iimi- 
ples in the Democratic faith.' By its own avowal, the Democratic party is 
responsible for giving encouragement to the whole policy of foreign immigra- 
tion, [f that policy has flooded the country with criminals and paupers; if 
it has produced riots and bloodshed in our large cities; if it lias endangered 
the religions as well as the civil liberty of Protestants; if it has swelled the 
ranks of Abolition and fanned the flame of Agitation — the Democratic party, 
by its own avowal, is amenable at the bar of public opinion for these astound- 
ing and deplorable results. Reckless el' consequences, it has persevered in a 
system hazardous to the stability of our institutions, because that system has 
aunually swelled the number of its adherents, and increased the chances of 
its perpetual ascendency. 

" Without adverting to the census tables, or repeating tho*e familiar facts 
connected with the statistics of immigration which have been so extensively 
published, it is sufficient to observe that, under this continued patronage of 
the Democratic party, the immigration of foreigners has increased from a few 
thousands, twenty years ago, to nearly half a million in 1854. 

"But the Democratic party cannot justly claim the exclusive honor of pro- 
jecting or carrying out the system. More than twenty years ago, the Duke 
of Richmond declared, in substance, that he had conversed with most of the 
sovereigns and princes of Europe ; that they were jealous of the influer 
our republican institutions upon their own Government; that they did not 
expect to conquer us as a nation, but designed the subversion of our Govern- 
ment by the introduction of the low and surplus population of Europe among 
us ; that ' discord, dissension, anarchy, and civil war would ensue, and some 
popular individual would assume the government and restore order, and the 
sovereigns of Europe, the emigrants, and many of the natives, would sustain 
him.' He also said, in speaking of the United States, that 'the Church of 
Rome has a design upon that country, and it will, in time, be the established 
religion, and will aid in the destruction of that republic' 

" These statements of the Duke of Richmond are abundantly corroborated 
by other declarations, as well as the most undeniable facts which have occurred 
since their promulgation. 

"I have in my possession, among various others, two small hooks published 
by 'the American and Foreign Christian Union,' 15G Chambers street, New 
York, the one entitled 'Foreign Conspiracy,' the other, 'Startling Pacts,' both 
of which, as I infer from their contents, were written in the year 1834, !< »ng 
before the American party had an existence. The work entitled 'Foreign 
Conspiracy' is composed of a series of articles originally published, over the 
signature of Brutus, in the New York Observer. They now appear with the 
name of the author, Samuel F. B. Morse. His object in writing the work 
was to arouse public attention to the efforts then being made in Europe to 
propagate the Catholic religion in the United States, and to show its danger to 
our republican institutions. He traces the origin of the Leopold Foundation 
in Austria, under the especial patronage of the Emperor at Vienna on the 



114 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

12th May, 1829, and shows that one of its leading objects was 'to promote the 
greater activity of Catholic missions in America.' 

"The letter of Prince Metternich to Bishop Fenwich, of Cincinnati, under 
date, Vienna, April 27, 1830, is set out at length ; and, in that letter, the 
Prince informs the Bishop, among other things, that the Emperor ' allows his 
people to contribute to the support of the Catholic Church in America.' Nu- 
merous quotations are made from the letters of Foreign Bishops in the United 
States to their patrons at home, and, among the rest, on page 85, is the follow- 
ing statement, made by one of them, in regard to the people of the United 
States: ' We entreat all European Christians to unite in prayer to God for the 
conversion of these unhappy heathen and obstinate heretics.' But, forbearing 
to multiply quotations from this little work, admirable in most of its positions, 
my main object, in citing it, was to make the following extract, from page 15 
of the preface, taken by the author from the lectures of the celebrated Fred- 
erick Schlegel, delivered at Vienna in 1828, where that distinguished foreigner 
says, 'The true nursery of all these destructive principles, the revolution- 
ary school for France and the rest of Europe, has been North America. Thence 
the evil has spread over many other lands, either by national contagion or by 
arbitrary communication ;' and also the following quotation, from page 118 
of Mr. Morse's book: 'Austria, one of the Holy Alliance of sovereigns, 
leagued against the liberties of the world, has the superintendence of the 
operations of Popery in this country.' 

" In the tract entitled ' Startling Facts for American Protestants,' written 
in the year 1834, by Bev. Herman Norton, Corresponding Secretary of the 
American Protestant Society, from pages 27 to 39, an account is given of a 
London pamphlet entitled ' New Plan of Emigration,' the production of a 
Boman Catholic gentleman, a London Banker: in which a project for occupy- 
ing the NorthWestern States with the Boman Catholic population of Europe, 
is unfolded, together with a map of the country, and, among other things, it is 
said, on page 29: ' The first settlements should be made in those fertile prairie 
districts situated on the southern sides of the Canadian lakes, where slavery is 
unknown. On page 28, the objects of this society, as set forth in this pam- 
phlet, are stated to be, 

'"1. To provide the means for colonizing the surplus Boman Catholic 
population of Europe in our Western States. 

" '2. To do this in such a way as to create a large demand for articles of 
British manufacture. 

" '3. To make Romanism the predominant religion of this country.'' 

" The census tables will show that, since these plans were set on foot, in 
England and in Europe, to break down our government, there has been an 
astonishing increase in the foreign immigration to this country. Great as it 
was prior to the Bevolutions in Europe in 1848, it has been amazingly aug- 
mented since that time. Millions of foreign money have been collected in 
Europe and expended since the organization of the society for the propagation 
of the faith, at Lyons in France, about the year 1822, in the United States. 
While an Austrian Emperor has had the charge, in a good degree, of the 
propagation of the Catholic religion in the United States, the public author- 
ities in various parts of Europe have defrayed the expenses of their criminals 
and paupers to this country, as was clearly shown by Congressional investiga- 
tions. 

" What do these facts prove ? Why, that the declaration of the Duke of Rich- 
mond, that the crowned heads of Europe intended to subvert our government, 
was true. What more do they prove ? Why, that the effort to establish the Ca- 
tholic religion in this country has, for more than twenty years, been conducted 
with steady perseverance, until the Catholics, who, in 1850, were more numer- 
ous, as the census compendium shows, than any one denomination of Method- 



WITH P0BEIGNI8M. I 1.", 

ists, are now no dombt stronger than all the Metl nl together, and 

stronger than any other denomination of Protestants. 

""While theso publications have heen before the American people tor more 
than twenty years, Democratic leaders have received, with open arms, t lio 
swarms of foreigners who have settled upon our shores. What care tht y for 
the slavery question, when they nave Been this foreign immigration, according 
to the plan ooncerted in England, settling in the qod Blavehol ling States, ana 
every year increasing the Aholition power.' What care they for the Protect- 
ant religion, if the Catholics can only give them the numerical strength at the 
ballot-box ? What regard have ///<// for the preservation of on . when 

European despots are seeking to undermine them, if those despots onlj 
such myrmidoms as will shout hosannas to Democracy and drive from the polls 
peaceful American citizens who oppose them? Is the preservation of the 
Union a matter of any consequence to them? Do they not in vision ! 
its seattered fragments and contemplate new confederacies, with hosts of new 
offices and millions of spoil ? 

"Can anyone doubt that the Democratic party is in league with all the 
dangerous elements that have disturbed and are continuing to ui.-tm 
once peaceful and happy country, and that they stickle at nothing when rotes 
are at stake? 

"Look to their conduct in running Mr. Polk as a tariff man in the North, 
and an anti-tariff man in the South ! Look to the two lives of Cass. Look 
to their equivocal position as to slavery and the Union. Look to their appeals to 
foreigners and Catholics by name in the elections of 1814 and 1S52, and pro- 
bably in 1848. Look to their alliance with Free Germans and Fourierites, 
Free Soilers and Secessionists. And, above all, look to the miserable cant 
with which they raise the hue and cry of persecution in favor of the Catholics, 
and, indirectly, deny to Protestant ministers the right to make war upon a 
huge corporation, calling itself a church, dealing in human souls, reeking with 
the blood of martyrs, and begrimed with more than ten centuries of oppres- 
sion. 

" No wonder that they have vilified and denounced the American party with 
every term of opprobrium that our vocabulary can furnish. No wonder they 
talk of dark lanterns and secret oaths and midnight assemblies. No wonder 
that they strive to frighten their followers with the notion that the American 
party is a raw-head and bloody bones, which should be shunned and avoided. 
For, if honest men of that party will only take the trouble to fhnke off the 
control of their leaders : to think, examine, to read, reilect, and act for them- 
selves, there are thousands of Democrats in the South who would scorn, like 
the American party, an alliance with Abolitionists, and there are tens of 
thousands of Protestant Union-loving Democrats everywhere, who have only 
confided in, to be deceived and betrayed by, their leaders, and, if they dis- 
cover, as it is hoped they will, that they have brought them t I the crumbling 
verge of an awful precipice, they have patriotism enough and Protestantism 
enough to break away from them rather than make the awful plua 

" I regret that I am admonished by the length to which I heve extended 
this communication, that I cannot now discuss the Oatholio question, as 1 had 
hoped to do at the outset, and I shall present only a few disjointed remarks in 
connection with it. 

" The American party does not seek to impose any religious test such as 
prevailed in the reign of Charles II., when two thousand Non-conformist min- 
isters were driven from their pulpits, or such, as in the same reign, was im- 
posed upon Roman Catholics and continued from 1C73 to 1828. The Ameri- 
can party does not propose that any religious test, of any kind, shall be 
imposed by law, upon any person whatever, but it does seek to organize a 
public sentiment on the Catholic question, just in the 6ame mode that, in 



116 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

times past, parties have sought to organize public sentiment upon the tariff 
question — the bank question — the internal improvement question — the tem- 
perance question, and every other question which has been the subject of dif- 
ference. If it is lawful to say, I will not vote for you because you are a Whig, 
it is equally lawful to say — I will not vote for you because you are a foreigner. 
If it is lawful to say, I will not vote for you because you are a Democrat, it is 
equally lawful to say, I will not vote for you because you are a Catholic. 

" Neither does the American party propose, in the slightest degree, to inter- 
fere with any of the rights secured to Roman Catholics, in common with 
others, by the Constitution. If they choose to worship a great doll as the 
Virgin Mary — to burn tall wax-candles in daylight — to pray to God in an 
unknown tongue — to believe that a simple wafer is the actual body, and com- 
mon wine the very blood of our Saviour — to enforce the celibacy of the clergy — 
to worship the host — to believe that old toe-nails and pieces of wood are pre- 
cious relics — to prevent their people from reading the Bible — to refuse to send 
their children to Protestant schools — to retain the confessional and the nun- 
nery — to pin their faith to unauthenticated traditions — to assert that theirs is 
the only true Church, and to perpetrate a thousand ridiculous mummeries — 
the members of the American party with one accord will say, molest them 
not, disturb them not, trouble them not ; the religious privileges of this coun- 
try are as free to them as they are to us, and we will not, by law or by violence, 
interrupt or interfere with them in the slightest degree. But knowing that 
the Catholic Church was for a thousand years allied to the State ; that it 
claimed dominion, in temporal as well as spiritual affairs, over the kings of 
the earth ; that it regards the Pope as the Vicegerent of the Almighty ; that 
he wears the tiara as the symbol of his power in heaven, earth, and hell ; that 
Romanists treat all other professions as heretics ; that its Archbishops, Bish- 
ops and Priests are sworn to persecute all who differ with them ; that the per- 
secuting spirit of that Church has been displayed, for centuries, in the most 
odious acts of cruelty as well as the most despotic tyranny that ever cursed 
the earth ; that fire and faggot, confiscation and torture have been its favorite 
weapons ; that no age, or sex or condition has been exempt from its inhuman 
butcheries and demoniac lusts ; that it exterminated the Albigenses and Wal- 
denses ; that it caused the gutters of Paris to run with human blood on St. 
Bartholomew's day : that it lighted the fires of Smithfield ; that through the 
instrumentality of Tyrconnel and Catholic and Irish Rappadees, it perpetrated 
the inhuman atrocities of the Irish Massacres ; that, it drove the Huguenots 
from France, and the Puritans from England ; that it has delighted in the 
chains and dungeons of the Inquisition, and shouted, with fiendish exultation, 
at the cries and groans of the victims in the auto da fe; that no republican 
government has ever flourished under its sway ; that it regards ignorance as 
the mother of devotion, and denies the obligation of an oath ; that it gave rise 
to the Order of Jesuits, the most detestable sect that the earth has ever seen ; 
that, in the midst of the blaze of the nineteenth century, it has burned the 
Bible in America and imprisoned men and women in Europe for no other 
offence than that of reading it ; that, abusing the freedom of the press and 
speech secured in the United States, it unblushingly avows that all Pro- 
testantism is heresy — that it is a crime — and punished in Christian countries 
Like Spain and Italy as a crime ; that it has banished the Bible from Protest- 
ant schools, when under its control ; that it has intermeddled in political elec- 
tions, and is struggling for political power ; that it wears a mask and claims 
to be harmless in this country for present effect, although it has never re- 
nounced one of its dogmas in any authoritative mode ; that it is typified, in 
the Bible, as the Man of Sin and the Great Whore of Babylon ; that it comes 
to us as an angel of light, but is allied with the Prince of Darkness : knowing 
all these things, and believing that the Roman Catholic Church, now that it is 



WITII FOREIQNISM. 117 

covered with the broml wings of Modern Demooiaoy, partakes of its meat and 
is pampered by its patronage, is, infinitely, the most dangeroas political power 
with which the people of the United States have e?er been oompelled to Rip- 
ple, the American part v i i » \ ill's all who love national liberty more than De- 
mocracy; who preler civil and religious freedom to the spoils of ofiice; who 
revere the memory of Tyndale, Lutlier, and Calvin; of Cranmer, Latimer, and 
Ridley; of the seven Bishops; of Fox ; of the Puritan fathers : of Wesley and 
II all ; of the Reformers and Protestants of every name, and, more than all, of 
our revolutionary ancestors, to burst the fetters of party and come to the rescue 
of their bleeding country, bleeding at every pore from wounds inflicted bj D( mo- 
cratio hands, amidst the jeers of European despots, the shouts of foreigners in 
our m'ulst, and the taunts and sneers of Catholics and Jesuits all around OS I 

" Let not Protestant ministers be intimidated by the impudent assaults oi 
a venal press, or the fierce denunciations ol' infuriated politicians, from doing 
their whole duty in the pulpit and at the polls. No Presbyterian hs 
denied to a Methodist the right to question bis religious faith, and no Method- 
ist will dispute the right of other denominations to impugn his creed. 
Methodists have assailed the Presbyterian doctrine of election. Presbyter- 
ians, in turn, have assailed their ideas of perfection and falling from grace. 
Both have controverted the Baptists' views of immersion, and all have denied 
the Episcopalians' doctrine of apostolic succession. These and many other 
points of difference have, from the foundation of our government, often been 
the subjects of earnest, protracted, and excited discussion ; but when did any 
American Protestant ever deny to another American Protestant the constitu- 
tional right to differ with him in opinion, and to express that difference through 
the press, in the pulpit, or any other constitutional mode? Yet, it has been 
reserved for Democratic presses to attempt, for electioneering purpose-, to 
curb the free spirit of Protestant ministers: to denounce them as "Reverend 
Hypocrites ;" and, when beholding at home and abroad, on the land and on 
the sea, among Christians and Pagans, in the halls of legislation, in churches 
and schools, in free speech, and in a free press, and in ten thousand other 
forms, the magnificent and glorious results of the Reformation, to ask, with 
impudent assurance, ' Witat has Protestantism done for the world ?' Not 
satisfied with the storm of execration which such an infamous interrogatory 
produced, the Nashville Union and American, the leading Democratic paper 
in Tennessee, in a very abusive article entitled 'IV/tal has it accomplishedf 
under date of April 26, 1856, thus speaks, among other things, of what he 
styles ' the Know Nothing Organization :' 

" ' It has clone more than this : it Jias gon< into ike Church cud converted 
the pulpit into a political rostrum — it has turned the at/ration of iht min- 
istry from THE PEACEFUL PATHS OF CHRISTIANITY To THE ARENA or POLITICAL 

turmoil — it has pulled down the banner of the Cross, and placed in its stead 

THE RED FLAG OF INTOLERANCE AND PROSCRIPTION.' 

'•While Protestant ministers, in the enjoyment of the rights secure. 1 to 
them by the Constitution, have, as before stated, often engaged in controver- 
sies with each other as to their differences in matters of Church government 
and speculative faith, they have, with one accord, from the foundation of the 
government, preached and published their views against the Roman Catholic 
Church — which arrogates a superiority over them all, and stigmatizes them 
as sects — long before the American party ever had an existence. But be- 
cause, in the course of events, it has become necessary for politicians to in- 
quire what effect an acknowledgment of the temp iral supremacy of the Pope 
may have upon our free institutions, the Democratic party — if it is to be 
judged of by its organ — would gag the Protestant clergy, deny to then; a right 
which they have always exercised, and, if they dare to oppose the colossal 
strides of Rome, denounce them as having 'converted the pulpit into a polil- 



118 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

ical rostrum,' and as having raised ' the red flag of Intolerance and Proscrip- 
tion.' 

" It is not for me to prescribe, nor do I desire to dictate the duty of Protest- 
ant ministers ; but if, in the combined efforts which the Catholics have been 
making under the patronage of European despots and noblemen, and the 
encouragement of Democratic demagogues in our own country, they see that 
this tremendous corporation has planted its footsteps in all our large cities — 
is possessing Jtself of the North-West and the Mississippi valley — and is en- 
circling them, as it were, with a wall of fire : if they see that the newspapers 
and periodicals of that corporation have published doctrines in this free 
country which they would scarcely avow in the Roman Catholic countries of 
Europe: if, in one word, they believe that they are to be persecuted and 
exterminated by Catholics, or take care of themselves before it is too late — 
then Protestant ministers, agreeing as they do in all great doctrines, and dif- 
fering only as to those which are not absolutely essential, will cease to dis- 
agree among themselves, at least until after they avert a common danger, and 
will rally as a band of brethren to resist, in such mode as they may deem pro- 
per, the encroachments and the insults of Rome, and all her satellites and 
allies. 

" If I do not greatly err in the estimate which I place upon the Protestant 
clergymen of America, the Democratic party and the Catholics will discover, 
sooner or later, that the same spirit which caused the Protestant fathers to 
brave the perils of the boot and the stake : to stand, without flinching, before 
such miscreant judges as Jeffreys and Scroggs : to yield two thousand pulpits 
and look beggary and starvation in the face, rather than compromise with 
conscience ; and, above all, to risk the untried dangers of the ocean and settle 
among savages — will nobly animate their descendants, and they will act in a 
manner worthy of themselves and of the great cause which is intrusted to 
their keeping. 

" Never was a more unfounded charge made against any party than that of 
proscription against the American party. It is only the political feature — the 
allegiance to the Pope of Rome — which we have felt called upon especially to 
oppose: leaving it to Protestant ministers to expose, if they choose, the 
absurdity of Catholic theological tenets. 

" It is a historical fact that the Romish clergy of France in 1682, under the 
lead of Louis XIV., made a declaration that 'Kings and sovereigns are not 
subject to any ecclesiastical power by the order of God in temporal things, 
and their subjects cannot be released from the obedience which they owe 
them, nor absolved from their oath of allegiance/ The doctrine of this declar- 
ation is called indifferently 'the Gallican, or the French, or the Cis-Alpine 
doctrine. That of the Court of Rome is called the Italian, or trans-Alpine 
doctrine.' 

" Under the solemn assurance of the Louisiana delegation that the native 
Catholics of Louisiana do not acknowledge the temporal supremacy of the 
Pope, they were admitted to representation in the American Council and Con- 
vention, and this fact abundantly proves that there is no desire to persecute 
Catholics for their religion, but only a determination to resist their political 
doctrine, which, although denied by Mr. Chandler in Congress, has been 
incontrovertibly established by the history of that Church for ages, the 
avowals of Mr. Brownson, the rebuke of Mr. Chandler by the Dublin Tablet, 
and Other overwhelming proofs. 

" In concluding this letter, it would, perhaps, be proper to dwell upon the 

of Messrs. Fillmore and Donelson to the support of the American 

people of all parties; but their characters are so well known, and I have 

already so extended my remarks, that I deem it unnecessary to observe any 

thing more than that Mr. Fillmore, by the faithful discharge of his duty, won 



WITH FOKEKiXIS.M. I LI 

the most cordial approbation of bis politioal enemiei u well as political 

friends, and had the confidence of thewhob untrywhen he retired from 

office, .-11111 has done oothing since to destroy it •, while Maj. Donelson, i 
Minister to Texas, to Prussia, and bo Denmark, sustained the dignity of our 
country and acquitted himself with honor denounced the unhallowed pro- 
ceedings of the southern Convention — struggled manfully, as the Democratic 
editor of the Washington Onion, in behalf of the Compromise, and i 
withdrew from it until May, 1852, when, so Ear as 1 understand hie coarse 
from his public acts, being unwilling bo 'blow hoi and cold' on tl 
question, and to aid the Democratic party in wearing a Northern and a South- 
ern face, he indignantly retired from it, and subsequently attached himself 
to the American party in the hope that it could carry on his mosl cherished 
object — the preservation of the Union. 

•• The object of selecting an old-line Whig and an old-line Democrat, \ 
nail to the counter the charge that the American party is the Whig party in 
disguise, and to induce, if possible, conservative men of both the old pari 
unite and rescue the country from Democratic misrule. 

"Hundreds, thousands of Democrats in Tennessee, acting upon their own 
impulses and without concertwith their leaders, attached themselves to the 
American party, but under the abuse of the leaders withdrew from it. 
Although, personally, I have no claims upon the Democracy, and have been 
always opposed to that party, yet I would respectfully observe that first im- 
pressions are often the best, and if such Democrats will take the trouble faith- 
fully and honestly to examine the cmestions of the day for themselves, unin- 
fluenced by the dictation of party leaders on either side, they will, doubtless, 
find many and cogent reasons to return to their first love. 

" But to such of the old-line Whigs as have m.t already gone overfto the 
•cratic party, I do feel that I have the right through this or any 
medium to address a few words. It is well known that 1 have been a Whig 
from my boyhood, and until I attached myself to the American party aboul 
twelve months ago; and that, in some form or other, I have labored in behalf 
of the Whig cause from my youth up — in good report and evil report, in pros- 
perity and in adversity, and without fee or reward. And, with great defer- 
ence to the opinions of others, I would inquire what has any old-line Whig 
to gain, either for his country or himself, by listening to the seductive flatter- 
ies of Democracy, as he looks upon the dismembered fragments of the VT hig 
party, or sits, like Marius, amid the ruins of Carthage? What party is it 
that has brought about the desolation you behold ? To whose strategy was it 
owing that the once impregnable city was betrayed and surrounded, an 
lofty battlements levelled with the dust ? What foul coalition oircunn 
you, and whose pestilential breath is now whispering in your ear: Has thai 
party against which you have fought for twenty years — which you have re 
garded as essentially corrupt and dangerous to the Union— all at once, and by 
some magical and unknown process, been eleai ! of its impurities, and 
it stand before you clothed in a white and spotless robe? What are BOme of 
the reasons why you opposed it '! 

" It denounced proscription for opinion's sake before it came into power, but 
kept the guillotine in continual motion afterwards. It rebuked any interfer- 
ence with the freedom of elections, and then denied its doctrine, and sought in 
countless ways to control them. It charged the administration ■ •! 
Quincy Adams with reckless extravagance, and has expended as much, or 
nearly as much, of the public treasure in one year as he did in the com 
his administration. It was favorable to a bank, a judicious tariff, and : 
nal improvements by the general government, but has crushed beneath its 
iron heel the whole American system. It promised a gold and silver cur- 
rency, and told the farmers that they and their wives should have 'lon^ 



120 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

silken purses, through the interstices of which the yellow gold would shine 
and glitter,' but has given us instead more than thirteen hundred State bonds, 
with a capital of more than three hundred millions. It has united the purse 
and the sword by means of its odious Sub-Treasury. It trampled beneath its 
feet the broad seal of the State of New Jersey, and encouraged Dorr's rebellion. 

" It annexed Texas and California, and has strengthened the Abolition 
power. It sustains the frequent use of the veto, and under the name of Demo- 
cracy delights in the exercise of monarchical prerogative. It proclaimed in 
1844 and 1845, that not a thimblefull of blood would be shed by any war 
growing out of the annexation of Texas, when that war sacrificed thousands 
of lives, and has cost us millions in money and land. It boasted, in regard to 
the Oregon question, that we must have ' 54° 40 / or fight/ but swallowed its 
own words, and in later times has attempted to retrieve its courage by the 
sublime and magnificent bombardment of Greytown ! It ordered General 
Taylor into the heart of the Mexican country with a feeble force, and when 
his victories had won the grateful plaudits of his countrymen, it had the un- 
paralleled meanness, while he was still fighting our battles, to censure the 
capitulation of Monterey. It had the baseness to call General Scott from the 
head of a victorious army, and to attempt to disgrace him in the eyes of his 
own country and the world. It denounced Judge White as a renegade, Gen- 
eral Harrison as a coward, Mr. Clay as a blackguard, and General Scott as a 
fool. And, without repeating what has been already urged in regard to its 
attitude upon the slavery question and the other topics that have been dis- 
cussed, I submit to the old-line Whigs that there is no principle which the 
Democratic party sincerely holds in common with them, and that they should 
unite with us in the effort to man the ship of State with officers and men 
devoted to the Constitution and true to the Union, in the hope that it may be 
rescued from the whirlpools and breakers among which it has been so reck- 
lessly conducted. 

" Having expressed myself with the independence which should character- 
ize a freeman, I cannot expect that a party which has dealt in the most un- 
mitigated denunciation of wiser and better men than myself, will permit my 
observations to pass with impunity, but I shall be amply compensated for 
their abuse if abler tongues and pens will improve upon these hurried remarks, 
and teach our Democratic traducers that they cannot continue, without just 
retaliation, their unjustifiable assaults upon the American party. 

"Yours respectfully, 

" THOS. A. R. NELSON." 



WITH FOREIUNISM. 121 



PROSCRIBING FOREIGNERS— FOREIGN IMMIGRATION 
—FOREIGN PAUPERS AND CRIMINALS— FOREIGN- 
ERS ELECTED GEN. PIERCE— OPINIONS OF GREAT 

MEN. 

The issue which most disturbs the Sag-Nicht Foreign Catholic 
Locofoco Dry-rot patriots, of the present day, in connection with 
the principles of the American party, is their proscription of 
foreign-born citizens. If the reader -will turn back to the Phila- 
delphia Platform, and consult the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 9th sections of 
that instrument, it will be seen that the American party really pro- 
scribe only those who are proscribed by the Constitution of the. 
United States, and the laws defining the rights of foreign-born 
citizens. The American party demand the enactment of laws upon 
this subject more definite, and in accordance with the provisions of 
the Constitution. 

The on\j positive work which the Constitution does, in regard to 
foreigners, is to proscribe. It contains but five clauses touching 
the subject : four of these are prohibitory, and the other is simply 
permissive. There is no guaranteeing clause whatever. We must 
be pardoned for recalling the very language of the Constitution — 
for in this progressive age, our "Young American" generation is 
fast losing sight of the plainest features of that document : which, 
with Fillibustering, Fire-eating agitators, is Old Fogy ism ! Let the 
Constitution speak for itself: 

Section 5, Article II. of the Constitution says: "No person, ex- 
cept a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the L^nited States at the 
time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the 
office of President." That is proscription. 

Section 3, Article XII., says: "No person constitutionally inel- 
igible to the office of President shall be eligible to the office of 
Vice-President of the United States." That is proscription. 

Section 8, Article I., says: "No person shall be a Senator who 
shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years 
a citizen of these United States." That is proscription. 

Section 2, Article I., says: "No person shall be a Representa- 



122 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

tive who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, and 
been seven years a citizen." This is proscription. 

Tlicse are the disabilities imposed upon Foreigners after they 
have been made citizens. But, more than this, the Constitution 
leaves it discretionary whether to make them citizens at all. It 
simply confers the power — simply permits. Here is the remaining 
clause, to which we have alluded : 

Section 8, Article I., says: "Congress shall have power to 
establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the 
subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States." 

But let us notice the matter of foreign emigration to this country. 
In that fragment of a nation, composed of three and a quarter mil- 
lions, which accomplished the American Revolution, there were in 
the United Colonies, in the year 1775, just 20,000 more foreigners 
than now come into this country in six months ! 

The progress of emigration into this country, as shown from the 
State Department at Washington, is after this fashion : 

In the year 1852, 375,000 

In the year 1853, ' , . 368,000 

In the year 1854, the returns of the first six months 

warrant the estimate for the entire year of . . 500,000 

The aggregate, for the first four and a half years of 

this decennial term, is .... 1,801,000 

There is no reason for believing that the vast immi- 
gration of this year will diminish. In fact, there is no 
limit to its rate of progress but the means of convey- 
ance. Now, then, we have upon this basis an aggre- 
gate for the six years and a half intervening between 
this period and 1860, of 3,250,000 

Making for the current ten years, the astounding ag- 
gregate of . . . ' . . . . 5,051,000 

Let Americans charge continually that the righteous ground 
upon which it plants itself is, THAT AMERICANS SHALL 
RULE AMERICA. Let them point the voters of the country to 
solid facts, from which there is no escape. Tell them that the 
emigration to this country, according to the Census records at 
Washington, was: 

From 1790 to 1810 120,000 

" 1810 to 1820 114,000 

" 1820 to 1830 203,979 

" 1830 to 1840 , 778,500 

" 1840 to 1850 1,542,850 



WITH FOKSIGNTSM. 123 

— ami that statistics show that daring the pr< si d1 decade, from 
1850 to 1860, in regularly increasing ratio, Dearly four millions of 
aliens will probably be poured in npon as. 

1'oint to the fact, that from this immigration spring nearly four- 
fifths of tin' beggary, two-thirda of the pauperism, and more than 
three-fifths of the crime of our country; thai more than half the 
public charities, more than half the prisons and alms-boa 
than half the police and t lie cost of administering criminal justiee, 
arc for foreigners, — and let the demand he made, that national and 
State legislation shall interfere, to direct, ameliorate, and control 
these elements, so far as it may he done within the limits of the 
Constitution. 

Let Americans everywhere, and at all times, charge home and 
force upon the attention of the people the alarming fact that if im- 
migration continues at the ahove rates, in thirty years from this time 
the population of this country will exceed that of France, Eng- 
land, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, all combined; 
that in fifteen years the foreign will outnumher the native popula- 
tion; that in 1854 the number of foreign immigrants was 500,000, 
of which 307,639 arrived at the port of New York ; that the white 
population of North Carolina is only a little over 500,000 — so that 
enough come to settle a State as populous as North Carolina in a 
year. Set forth the statistical facts, as shown by the last Census, 
that the immigration of 1854 was more than equal to the white 
population of either one of eighteen States of this Union ; and in 
proof, point them to the following startling facts : 

A Table comparing the white population of the States therein enumerated, 
with the foreign immigration of 1854, and showing the excess of foreign im- 
migrants for this year above the respective population of the several Si 

White p.. i'U- KxcesB of 

States. lation. immigrants. 

Arkansas 162,189 

Alabama 420,514 73,486 

California 91,635 418,365 

South Carolina 274,503 226,43' 

Connecticut 303,090 136,901 

Delaware 71,169 

Florida 47.203 452,717 

Iowa : 191,881 308,119 

I. uieiaaa 225,491 37 

Maryland 117 82,057 

Michigan 395,071 104,929 

Mississippi 295,718 

New Hampshire 317,450 182,51 1 

XewJersev 34,491 

Rhode Island L43.875 356,125 

Texas 154,034 845,946 

Vermont 213,402 186,598 

Wisconsin 304J5G 195,244 



124 



AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



Analyze this table, and show from it that the foreign immigra- 
tion of 1854 was sufficient to have settled three States equal to 
Arkansas, three equal to Iowa, three equal to Texas, two to Louis- 
iana, four to Rhode Island, five to California, seven to Delaware, 
or ten to Florida ; so that under the principle of the Kansas and 
Nebraska act, while immigrants continue pouring in upon us at the 
present rate, we may have within one year ten new States apply- 
ing for admission into the Union, entitled to their twenty Senators 
in the United States Senate ; and yet this would be but the Sena- 
torial representation of 500,000 foreigners. 

Let the light of truth be heard upon the great question of immi- 
gration, and let the people see that if the ratio of immigration con- 
tinues as it has been since 1850, during the ten years from 1850 to 
18G0 there will have come four millions of foreigners into this 
country — enough to settle eighty States equal to Florida, thirty- 
two equal to Rhode Island, sixteen equal to Louisiana, or eight 
equal to Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Michigan, Mississippi, Vermont, Alabama, New Hamphire, or New 
Jersey. So the Senatorial representation of foreigners may reach 
one hundred and sixty members in the United States Senate, and 
cannot be less than twenty in a body composed of but sixty-two 
members representing thirty-one States. 

UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY— FOREIGNISM AND NATIVEISM. 

The reader will find below a list of the names of the employees 
in the Coast Survey, classified according to birth, and their respect- 
ive salaries : 



Natives. Salary. 

E. Nutty |1,200 

J. T. Hoover 000 

J. H. Toomer, 519 

J. E. Blackenship 500 

R. Freeman 350 

II. Mitchell 1,000 

II. Heaton 700 

R. S. Avery GG0 

J. Kincheloe 339 

G. C. Blanchard 339 

R. E. Evans 339 

It. L. Hawkins 1,200 

W. McPherson 700 

W. M. C. Fairfax 1,800 

M. J. McClery 1,600 

Poterficld 1,000 

L. Williams 860 

John Key 782 

Martin 751 

B. Hooe 419 

F. Fairfax 500 



Foreigners. Salary. 

J. E. Hilgard $2,200 

S. E. Werner 1,419 

C. A. Schott 1,500 

J.Main 1,100 

G. Rumpf. 1,000 

J. Weisner 900 

L. F. Pourtales 1,500 

S. Hein 2,500 

J. Welch 1,565 

A. Brschke 1,408 

Balback 639 

Lendenkehl 782 

W. P. Schultz 704 

G. McCoy 2,000 

A. Rolle 1,700 

G. B. Metzenroth 1,095 

J. C. Koudnip 939 

J. Rutherdall 526 

J. Barrett 375 

J. Vierbunchen 1,095 

P. Vierbunchen 281 



WITH FOREIONISM. 



125 



Nath BftI .iv 

II. McOoraiok L56 

B. Wharton l.ioo 

J. Kni-l.l 1,700 



■hi rs. S.-ilai v. 

T. Hunt 704 

.1. Missenson 626 

K. Sohelpa8s 469 



F. Dankworth L;700 C. Ramkin 31 

J. V. N. Throop 1,252 P. w bite 960 

K. Knfchl 939 D. Flyu 600 

:,■>:> 



C. A. Knight 626 

<;. Mathiot 1,B0() 

S. Harris 519 

S. 1). O'Brien 1,095 

A. Geatman 704 

H.Tine G2f> 

C. B. Snow 1,000 

.]. Smith 593 

O. Hit/. 313 

J. Cronion 519 

xV.W. Russell 1,300 

Tansill 660 

V.E.King 720 

F. Holden. 500 

J.Mitchell 331 

W. Bright 21G 



P. Kinney ■>-■> 

0. Kraft 120 

B. ffeff. 526 

A. Macdcll 1,095 



■ 11,8 7 



§24,429 

The whole number of natives, 43 ; number of foreigners, 31. 
Amount paid natives, $24,420; amount paid foreigners, $31,867. 
The average salary of the natives is $568 12 per year ; of the 
foreigners, $1,029 98 per year — nearly double that of the natives. 
Is not this favoritism to the foreigner, and discrimination against 
the native ? The disbursing officer, S. Ilein, receives $2,500. 

The result of the last Presidential election was controlled by 
foreign votes, beyond all question. Look at the figures — see how 
they foot up — and see that the country is controlled by foreigners : 



States. 

NewYorkj _ 
Pennsylvania, 

Maryland, 

Louisiana, 
Missouri, 

Illinois, 

Ohio, 

Wisconsin, 

Iowa, 

lilmile Island, 

Connecticut, 

Delaware, 

\rw Jersey, 

California, 









Electoral 


Foreign 


Foreign 


Pierce's 


vote for 


population. 


vote. 


majority. 


Pierce. 


655,224 


93,317 


27,201 


35 


303,105 


43,300 


19,446 


27 


51,011 


7,287 


4,945 


8 


67,308 


9,615 


1,392 


6 


76,570 


10,938 


7,698 


9 


111,860 


15,980 


15,653 


11 


218,099 


31,157 


L6.694 


23 


110,471 


15,781 


11.41s 


5 


20,968 


2,995 


1,180 


4 


23,832 


3.401 


L.109 


4 


38,374 


5,482 


L\STO 


6 


5,243 


749 


25 


3 


59,804 


8,543 


5,749 


7 


21,628 


10,000 


5,694 


4 



258.54S 



120,094 152 



126 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



RECAPITULATION. 



Pierce's rote, ...... 1,602,063 

Scott's vote, ...... 1,385,990 



216,673 
Foreign vote, ...... 367,320 

Pierce's majority, ..... 216,673 

150,647 

The foreign vote exceeded Pierce's majority over Scott, 150,647 
votes. 

It is thus demonstrated that in each of these fourteen States the 
foreign vote was larger than the majority given for General Pierce ; 
and it is also demonstrated that the aggregate foreign vote of these 
fourteen States is more than twice the whole number of General 
Pierce's majorities in said States. If even one-half of the foreign 
vote had been given to General Scott, he would have been elected 
instead of General Pierce ! 

The following New York City statistics set forth the amount of 
crime committed in that city for six months ending in June, 1855 : 

"It appears that the number of arrests made during that time were 25,110. 
Of these, no less than 9,755 were for intoxication and disorderly conduct com- 
bined ; and 7,025 for crimes that had their origin in the dram-shops, to wit : 

"Assault and battery, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, &c. The greatest 
number of arrests were in June, showing that during the hot weather, as is 
generally the case, more liquor was drank. The birth-place of the criminals, 
for two months, was as follows : 

United States, 1,750 

Ireland, 5,117 

Germany, 1,010 

All other places, 4,847 

" It needs no argument to prove if there had been no intoxicating liquor 
sold in that city, a large portion of the crimes and the misery resulting there- 
from would have been prevented." 

More Instructive Statistics. — The Jersey City Sentinel of 
the 22d ult. publishes statistics of crime and pauperism in Jersey 
City and Hudson County, as follows : 

"Number of inhabitants in Jersey City, 21,000, viz.: natives, 13,000; 
Irish, 5, 000; other foreigners, 4,000. Number of persons who have been con- 
fined in the city prison, 4,100, viz. : natives, 75 ; Irish, 3,550 ; other foreign- 
ers, 475. Number of persons confined in the county jail at present, 68, viz. : 
natives, 2 ; Irish, 58 : other foreigners, 8. Of 188 persons who have been 
inmates of Hie Almshouse, none have been natives, and no foreigners except 
Irish. Of 723 who received aid from the Poor-master, 2 were natives, and 
721 were Irish." 

We will now submit, as authorities, some names which ought to 
have weight with the American people, and which demonstrate, 
beyond all contradiction, that we have had "Know Nothings" in 



WITH POBBIQNISM- 127 

our country in former days, if they were not called by that name '. 
Here are 'the wordfl and srntiincnts of tkeae u dark-lantern pa- 
triots:" 

"Againet the iamdioaB wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure yon to believe 
me, fellow-citsBens,) the jealousy of b free people ought to be constantly 
awake, it is one of the most baneful foes of a Republican government," — 
Washington. 

" I hope we may find some hope in future of shielding ourselves from for- 
eign influence, in whatever Form it may be attempted. I wisli then were, an 
ocean of lire between this and the old world." — Ir.n t.k-o\. 

" Foreigh influence is a Grecian horse to the republic: we cannot b« 
careful to exclude its entrance." — M.ADISON. 

"There is an imperative necessity for reforming the NTaturalization La 

the United States." — DaNIEI WeBSTHR. 

"It is high time we should become a Kttle more Americanized, and instead 
of feeding die paupers and laborers of England, feed our own; or else, in a 

short time, by our present policy, wc shall become paupers ourselves." — 
Andrew Jackson. 

" I agree with the farther of his country, that we should guard with a jeal- 
ousy becoming a free people, our institution-, against the insidious wi 
foreign influence." — Henry Clay. 

"Oor naturalization laws are unquestionably defective, or our alms-', 
would not now be filled with paupers. Of the [34,000 paupers in the I 
States, 68,000 are foreigners, and 66,000 natives. The annals of crime hav< 
swelled as the jails of Europe have poured their contents into the country, 
and the felon convict, reeking from a murder in Europe, or who has had the 
fortune to escape punishment for any other crime abroad, easily gains natur- 
alization here, by spending a part of five years within th< the United 
States. Our country has become a Botany Bay, into which Europe annually 
discharges her criminals of every description." — John M. Clayton, I 
States Senator. 

Forty years ago, this subject came up in the Congress of the 
United States, and that far-seeing statesman and patriot, John 
Randolph, of Virginia, made a speech, from which we take the 
following extract : 

" How long the country would endure this foreign yoke in its m 
and disgusting form he could not tell, but this he would say, that if We were 
to be dictated to and ruled by foreigners, he would much rather be ruled by a 
British Parliament than by British subjects here. Should he be told that 
those men fought in the war of the Revolution, he would answer, that those 
who did so were not included by him in the class he adverted to. That was a 
civil war, and they and we were at its commencement alike British buI 
Native Britons, therefore, then taking arms on our them the same 

rights as those who were born in this country, and his motion could be easily 
modified so as to provide for any that might be of this description, but no such 
modification, he was sure, wouid be found ;• . for this plain rea 

wit : 

''Where were the soldiers of the Revolution who were not natives? 
were either already retired or else retiring to that great reckoning 
counts were not allowed. If the honorable gentleman (opposing the propo- 
sition) would point his finger to any such kind of person now living, he would 
agree to his being made an exception to the amendment. It was time that 
the American people should have a character of their own, and where would 



128 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

they find it ? In Now England and in Virginia only, because they were a 
homogeneous race — a peculiar people. They never yet appointed foreigners 
to sit in that house (of Congress) for them, or to fill their high offices. In both 
States this was their policy : it was not found in, nor was it owing to their 
paper constitutions, but what was better, it was interwoven in the frame of 
their thoughts and sentiments, in their steady habits, in their principles from 
the cradle — a much more solid security than could be found in any abracada- 
bra which constitution-mongers could scrawl upon paper. 

" It might be indiscreet in him to say it, for, to say the truth, he had as little 
of that rascally virtue, prudence, he apprehended, as any man, and could as 
little conceal what he felt as affect what he did not feel. He knew it was not 
the way for him to conciliate the manufacturing body, yet he would say that 
he wished with all his heart that his bootmaker, his hatter, and other manu- 
facturers, would rather stay in Great Britain, under their own laws, than 
come here to make laws for us, and leave us to import our covering. We 
must have our clothing home-made, (said he,) but I would much rather have 
my workmen home-made, and import my clothing. Was it best to have our 
own unpolluted republic peopled with its own pure native republicans, or 
erect another Sheffield, another Manchester, and another Birmingham, upon 
the banks of the Schuylkill, the Delaware, and the Brandywine, or have a 
host of Luddites amongst us — wretches from whom every vestige of the 
human creation seemed to be effaced ? Would they wish to have their elec- 
tions on that floor decided by a rabble ? What was the ruin of old Rome ? 
Why, their opening their gates and letting in the rabble of the whole world 
to be their legislators !" 

" If (said he) you wish to preserve among your fellow-citizens that exalted 
sense of freedom which gave birth to the Revolution — if you Avish to keep 
alive among them the spirit of '76, you must endeavor to stop this flood of 
immigration ! You must teach the people of Europe that if they do come 
here, all they must hope to receive is protection — but that they must have no 
share in the government. From such men a temporary party may receive 
precarious aid, but the country cannot be safe nor the people happy where 
they are introduced into government, or meddle with public concerns in any 
great degree." 

* ******** 

" This (said Mr. Randolph) is a favorable time to make a stand against 
this evil (immigration,) and if not this session, he hoped that in the next there 
would be a revisal of the naturalization laws." 

A few short epistles from the pen of Gen. Washington, and we 
will close this chapter. These we take from the "Papers of 
Washington by Sparks." George Washington, justly styled the 
"father of his country," was a great and good man — a primitive 
Know Nothing — a praying Protestant — and withal, the man who 
was " first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his 
countrymen." Here are the honest sentiments of this man : 

TO RICHARD HENRY LEE. 

"Morristown, May 17, 1777. 
"Dear Sir: — I take the liberty to askj'ou what Congress expects I am to 
do with the many foreigners they have at different times promoted to the 
rank of field-officers, and, by the last resolve, two to that of colonels. . . . These 
men have no attachment nor ties to the country, further than interest binds 
them. Our officers think it exceedingly hard, after they have toiled in this 



WITH FOREIGN ISM. 129 

service and have sustained many losses, to have strangers put over them, 
whose merit, perhaps, is not equal to their own, but whose effrontery will 
take do denial. . . It is by the seal ;m<l activity of out own people that 
the cause must be supported, and Dot by a few hungry adventurers. 

" I am, A. ■.. "G. W U HIMQTON." 

[Vol. IV., p. 423.] 

TO THE SAME. 

" Minni,EHRooK, June 1, 1777. 

"You will, before this can reach you, have seen Monsieur Dueoudray. 
What his real expectations are, I do not know ; but I fear, if his appointment 
is equal to what 1 have been told is his expectation, it will he attended with 
unhappy consequences. lb say nothing of the policy of intrusting a depart- 
ment, on the execution of which the salvation of the arm!/ depi nds, to a foreign* i 
who has no other tie to bind him to the interests of this country than honor, I 
would beg leave to observe that by putting Mr. D. at the head of the artillery, 
you will lose a very valuable officer in General Knox, who is a man of great 
military reading, sound judgment, and clear conceptions, who will resign if 
any one is put over him. . . I am, &c., 

"G. Washington." 

[Vol. IV., p. 446.] 



TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, ESQ. 

"White Plains, July 24, 1778. 

" Dear Sir : — The design of this is to touch cursorily upon a subject of very- 
great importance to the well-being of these States : much more so than will 
appear at first view. I mean the appointment of so many foreigners to offices 
of high rank and trust in our service. 

" The lavish manner in which rank has hitherto been bestowed on these 
gen'lemen, will certainly be productive of one or the other of these two evils 
— either to make us despicable in the eyes of Europe, or become a means of 
pouring them in upon us like a torrent, and adding to our present burden. 

" But it is neither the expense nor trouble of them that I dread : there is 
an evil more extensive in its nature and fatal in its consequences to be appre- 
hended, and that is the driving of all our own officers out of the service, and 
throwing not only our army but our military councils entirely into the hands 
of foreigner^. 

"The officers, my dear sir, on whom you must depend for the defence of 
this cause, distinguished by length of service, their connections, property, and 
military merit, will not submit much, if any longer, to the unnatural promo- 
tion of men over them who have nothing more than a little plausibility, un- 
bounded pride and ambition, and a perseverance in application not to be 
resisted but by uncommon firmness, to support their pretensions: men who, 
in the first instance, tell you they wish for nothing more than the honor of 
serving in so glorious a cause as volunteers, the next day solicit rank without 
pay, tlie day following want money advanced to them, and in the course of a 
week want further promotion, and are not satisfied with any thing you can 
do for them. The expediency and the policy of the measure remain to be 
considered, and whether it is consistent with justice or prudence to promote 
these military fortune-hunters at the hazard of your army. 

" Baron Steuben, I now find, is also wanting to quit his inspectorship for a 
command in the line. This will be productnc of much discontent to the 
brigadiers. In a word, although I think the Baron an excellent officer, / do 

9 



130 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

most devoutly wish that we had not a single foreigner among us, except the 
Marquis de Lafayette, who acts upon very different principles from those 
which govern the rest. Adieu. 

" I am most sincerely yours, 

" G. Washington." 
[Vol. VI., p. 13.] 

TO JOHN ADAMS, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

" Philadelphia, Nov. 27, 1794. 
•' Dear Sir : — . . . My opinion with respect to immigration is, that 
except of useful mechanics and some particular description of men or profes- 
sions, there is no need of encouragement. I am, &c, 

" G. Washington." 
[Vol. XL, p. 1.] 



TO J. Q. ADAMS, AMERICAN MINISTER AT BERLIN. 

" Mount Vernon, Jan. 20, 1799. 

" Sir : — . . . You know, my good sir, that it is not the policy of this 
country to employ aliens where it can well be avoided, either in the civil or 
military walks of life. . . . There is a species of self-importance in all 
foreign officers that cannot be gratified without doing injustice to meritorious 
characters among our own countrymen, who conceive, and justly, where there 
is no great preponderancy of experience or merit, that they are entitled to the 
occupancy of all offices in the gift of their government. 

" I am, &c, " G. Washington. 

[Vol. XI., p. 392.] 



SAME DATE, TO A FOREIGNER APPLYING FOR OFFICE. 

" Dear Sir : — ... It does not accord with the policy of this govern- 
ment to bestow offices, civil or military, upon foreigners, to the exclusion of 
our own citizens. Yours, &c, 

" G. Washington." 

[Vol. XL, p. 392.] 

INSTRUCTIONS OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO THE INSPECTOR -GENERAL. 

" War Department, Feb. 4, 1799. 
"... For the cavalry, for the regulations restrict the recruiting offi- 
cers to engage none except natives for this corps, and those only as from their 
known character and fidelity may be trusted." 



WITH FOREIONISM. 131 



[From tbo ETjtOXVille Whig for Utah, 1S56.] 

WHO IS MILLARD FILLMORE ? 

A brief history of the American nominee for the Presidency is 
this: He was born in the year 1800, in Cayuga county, New York, 
and is now fifty-six years of age. His father was then, as he now 
is, a farmer, in moderate circumstances ; and now lives in the 
county of Erie, a short distance from Buffalo. The limited means 
of the family prevented the old gentleman from giving his son Mil- 
lard any other or better education than was obtained in the imper- 
fect common schools of that age. 

In his sixteenth year, Mr. Fillmore was placed with a merchant 
tailor near his home to learn that business. He remained four 
years in his apprenticeship, during which time he had access to a 
small library, improving the advantages it offered by perusing all 
the books therein contained. Judge Wood, of Cayuga county, 
pleased with his intellectual advancement, urged him to study the 
profession of the law ; and as his poverty was the only obstacle in 
his way, Judge Wood advanced him the necessary means, relying 
upon his making a lawyer, and being able by the practice of the 
profession to refund the money again. With a portion of this 
money young Fillmore bought his unexpired time, which was for 
the winter, and he pursued his legal studies with energy and suc- 
cess, in the office of the noble Judge. 

In 1822, he removed to Buffalo, where he was admitted to the 
bar. His object in removing, to Buffalo was to complete his studies 
and to obtain a license. This accomplished, he removed to Aurora, 
not far from where his parents resided, and there commenced the 
practice of his profession. The confidence of his neighbors in his 
integrity and abilities was such that he found himself in the midst 
of a lucrative practice at once. In 1826, he was married to Miss 
Powers, the daughter of a clergyman in the village of Aurora, and 
this excellent woman lived to see him elected Vice-President of the 
United States. 

In 1829, Mr. Fillmore was elected from the county in which he 
married and where his parents lived to the General Assembly of 
New York, and for three years continued a member of this body, 
distinguishing himself by his energy, tact, and wisdom in legisla- 



132 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

tion. Through his energy and speeches, Imprisonment for Debt 
was abolished, and this so increased his popularity throughout the 
State, that it was apparent that he could be elected to any office in 
the gift of the people of that State. 

In 1829, he was admitted a counsellor in the Supreme Court of 
New York, and in 1832 he removed to Buffalo, where he settled 
permanently and enlarged his practice as an attorney. In 1832, 
he was elected a representative in the 23d Congress, in which he 
served with industry and credit to himself and his district. At the 
end of his term he renewed the practice of the law, of choice, but, 
in 1836, was prevailed on to again serve his district in Congress ; 
and in the celebrated New Jersey contested elections, distinguished 
himself. He was chosen to the next Congress by the largest 
majority ever given to any man in the district ; and as Chairman 
of the Committee on Ways and Means, acquired a reputation that 
any man might be proud of. 

At the close of the 27th Congress, his friends were anxious for 
his continuance in public life, but he declined. And in his address 
to his constituents, dated at Washington, July 11th, 1842, he 
says : 

" Pardon the personal vanity, though it be a weakness, that induces me to 
recur for a moment to the cherished recollections of your early friendship and 
abiding confidence. I cannot give vent to the feelings of my heart without it. 
It is now nearly fourteen years since you did me the unsolicited honor to 
nominate me to represent you in the State Legislature. Seven times have I 
received renewed evidence of your confidence by as many elections, and, at 
the expiration of my present term, I shall have served you three years in the 
State and eight years in the National Councils. I cannot recall the thousand 
acts of generous devotion from so many friends, without feeling the deepest 
emotions of gratitude. I came among you a poor and friendless boy. You 
kindly took me by the hand and gave me your confidence and support. You 
have conferred upon me distinction and honors, for which I could make no 
adequate return, but by honest and untiring effort faithfully to discharge the 
high trust which you confided to my keeping. If my humble efforts have met 
your approbation, I freely admit, next to the approval of my own conscience, 
it is the highest reward which I could receive for days of unceasing toil and 
nights of sleepless anxiety. I profess not to be above or below the common 
frailties of our nature. I will therefore not disguise the fact, that I was 
highly gratified at my first election to Congress ; yet I can truly say that my 
utmost ambition has been gratified. I aspire to nothing more, and shall re- 
tire from the exciting scenes of political strife to the quiet employments of my 
family and fireside, with still more satisfaction than I felt when first elevated 
to distinguished station." 

During this same year he returned to the practice of his profes- 
sion, and, in 1844, the Whig State Convention of New York put 
him in nomination for the office of Governor, in opposition to Silas 
Wright. This was the only conflict in which he ever suffered de- 
feat, and the race was close. In 1847, without seeking or desiring 
the highly responsible office, he was elected Comptroller of the Fi- 



WITn FOREKJNISM. 



L83 



nances of the State, and removed to Albany, where he discharged 
the duties of the office with great oredit to himself and usefulness 
to the State, resigning the office in "February, isl'.t, to cuter upon 
the duties of the office of Vice-President, to which he had been 
called by the election in 1848. Gen. Taylor dying, he became 
President, and every patriot in the land remembers and admires 
the history of his administration. Gen. Cass and other distin- 
guished Democrats said his career had been one of genuine patriot- 
ism, honor, and usefulness ; and Gov. Wise, upon the stump in 
Virginia, characterized it as "Washington-like;" while the Demo- 
cratic papers and orators, from Maine to California, declared that 
he ought to have been nominated in lieu of Gen. Scott, because he 
was one of the best men in America. 

He is now in Europe, familiarizing himself with the workings of 
the despotic governments of that country. Before leaving, almost 
one year ago, he told his friends, in answer to questions relating to 
the presidency, not to start any newspapers for his benefit — not to 
publish any documents — not to make any speeches, or even elec- 
tioneer — and added, that if the American people nominated him, of 
their own free will and accord, he would accept their nomination, 
and if elected, he would serve them to the best of his abilities. His 
nomination, therefore, under the circumstances, is a great honor, 
and shows the implicit confidence the real people have in the integ- 
rity, patriotism, and qualifications of the man. That he will go 
into the presidential chair almost by acclamation, we have not the 
shadow of doubt. 

As to Mr. Fillmore's chances, we consider them excellent, and 
growing brighter every day. The indications are now very clear 
that he will obtain a plurality, if not a majority vote, in most of 
the Northern States; and under the most unfavorable circumstan- 
ces, he will be sure to divide the electoral vote of the South, so as 
to carry more States than Mr. Buchanan. Virginia, South Caro- 
lina, Mississippi, and Alabama, are the only four States we concede 
to the Cincinnati nominee and one of these, we confidently expect 
to carry. Georgia and Arkansas we set down as doubtful, and 
we contend that Buchanan can't get either of them without a severe 
struggle. 

We then make this estimate, and claim as certain for Fillmore 
and Donelson the following States, viz. : 



Massachusetts 13 

Rhode Island 4 

New York 35 

New Jersey 7 

Pennsylvania 27 

Maryland 8 

Kentucky 12 



Tennessee 12 

North Carolina 10 

Louisiana G 

Missouri 9 

California 4 

Delaware 3 

Florida 3 



134 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

This makes a total of 157 — eleven more than is necessary to an 
election. This is not an extravagant, but a very fair estimate. 
The friends of the American ticket have a right to feel encouraged. 
With proper exertions our ticket will carry. Let every American 
consider himself a sentinel upon the watch-tower — let every friend 
of the party do his duty, and the result will not be doubtful. And 
let all who believe that "Americans ought to rule America," take 
courage — "the skies are bright and brightening." 

As it regards Mr. Fillmore's Americanism, that is settled — he 
has been a Protestant American fifteen years in advance of the 
party, as it now exists. The Hon. J. T. Headley, Secretary of 
State of New York, delivered a speech at the Capital of his State, 
March 7th, 1856, in which he spoke of Mr. Fillmore in the fol- 
lowing language : 

"Now, in the first place, he was an American years before those who de- 
nounce him ever thought of Americanism. The Police constable of NeAvburg 
elected last year on the American ticket, told me, that years ago, when that 
Avell-known conflict occurred between the citizens of Buffalo and the foreign 
population, that a combination was formed called the "American League." 
The members of this League entered into a solemn compact to stand together 
and fight together for the rights of Americans. This constable was at the time 
an humble mechanic in Buffalo, and he said that he constantly met Mr. Fillmore 
(who was a member of that League with him) at the Council Room. Thus you 
see that those who would arrogate to themselves the title of Americans, and 
yet carp at Mr. Fillmore as wanting in American sentiment, are really recent 
volunteers compared with him. Mr. Fillmore carried his American principles 
still farther and became (so an officer in the same order informs me) a member 
of the United Americans. He has always been a true American, he is now, 
and ever will be, and is worthy to move at the head of the glorious column over 
which floats the flag bearing the inscription, 'Americans shall rule America.' " 

After the defeat of Mr. Clay, in 1844, Mr. Fillmore addressed 
him this noble American letter : 

"Buffalo, Nov. 14, 1844. 

" My Dear Sir : — I have thought for three or four days that I would Avrite to 
you, but really I am unmanned. I have no courage or resolution. All is 
gone. The last hope, which hung first upon the city of NeAV York, and then 
upon Virginia, is finally dissipated, and I see nothing but despair depicted 
upon every countenance. 

"For myself, I have no regrets. I was nominated for Governor much 
against my will, and though not insensible to the pride of success, yet I feel a 
kind of relief at being defeated. But not so for you or the nation. Every 
consideration of justice, every feeling of gratitude conspired in the minds of 
honest men to insure your election, and though always doubtful of my own 
success, I could never doubt yours, till the painful conviction was forced upon 
me. 

" The Abolitionists and Foreign Catholics have defeated us in this State. I 
will not trust myself to speak of the vile hypocrisy of the leading Abolitionists 
now. Doubtless many acted honestly and ignorantly in Avhat they did. But 
it is clear that Birney and his associates sold themselves to Locofocoism, and 
they Avill doubtless receiA'e their rewai'd. 



WITH FOREIGNIS.M. MJfi 

"Our opponents, by pointing /<> tin Natitx American) and to Mr. Fr\ 
huj/sen, drove tht Foreign Catholics from us and defeated us in this State. 

"But it is vain to Look at tin- causes by which this infamoui retail has been 
produced. It is enough to Bay that all is gone. I must oonfeea that nothing 
has happened to Bhake my oonfidenoe in our ability t" sustain a free govern- 
ment BO much as this. 

"Millard I'm lmo&b." 

But here is one other letter, -written to Isaac Newton, just be- 
fore Mr. Fillmore left the United States for Europe. A more 
patriotic letter, breathing more of the genuine American spirit, we 
have never met with : 

• Buffalo, N. Y., Jan. 3, 1855. 

" Respected Friend Isaac Newton: — It would give me great pleasure to 
accept your kind invitation to visit Philadelphia, it' it were possible to make 
my visit private, and limit it to a lew personal friends whom 1 shonld be most 
happy to sec; but I know that this would he out of my power, and I am 
therefore reluctantly compelled to decline your invitation, as I have done 
others to New York and Boston, fur the same reason. 

" I return you many thanks lor your information on the subject of politics. 
I am always happy to hoar what is going forward, but, independent of the 
fact that I feel myself withdrawn from the political arena, 1 have been too 
much depressed in spirit to take an active part in the late elections. I con- 
tented myeelf with giving a silent vote for Mr. Ullman, for Governor. 

" While, however, I am an inactive observer of public events, I am by no 
means an indifferent one, and I may say to you in the frankness of private 
friendship, that I have for a long time looked with dread and apprehension at 
the corrupting influence which the contest for the foreign vote is exerting upon 
our elections. This seems to result from its bein.u; banded together, and subject 
to the control of a few interested and selfish leaders. Hence it has been a 
subject of bargain and sale, and each of the great political parties of the 
country have been bidding to obtain it, and, as usual in all such contests, the 
party which is most corrupt is most successful. The consequence is, that it is 
fast demoralizing the whole country ; corrupting the very fountains of political 
power; and converting the ballot-box — that great palladium of our liberty — 
into an unmeaning mocker}", where the rights of native-born citizens are voted 
away by those who blindly follow their mercenary and selfish leaders. The 
evidence of this is found not merely in the shameless chaffering for the foreign 
vote at every election, but in the large disproportion of offices which are oovi 
held by foreigners at home and abroad, as compared with our native citizens. 
Where is the true-hearted American whose cheek dues not tingle with shame 
and mortification to see our highest and most coveted foreign missions tilled 
by men of foreign birth to the exclusion of native-burn? Such appointments 
are a humiliating confession to the crowned heads of Europe that a Republican 
soil does not produce sufficient talent to represent a Republican nation at a 
monarchical court. I confess that it seems to me — with all due respect tu 
others — that, as a general rule, our country should be governed by America'V 
born citizens. Let us give to the oppressed id' every country an asylum and 
a home in our happy laud, give to all the benefits of equal laws, and equal 
protection; but let us at the same time cherish, a- the apple of our eye, the 
great principles of constitutional liberty, which few who have nol had tin- 
good fortune to be reared in a free country know how to appreciate and still 
less how to preserve. 

"Washington, in that inestimable legacy which he left to his country — his 
farewell address — has wisely warned us to beware ( ,f foreign intlueuce as the 



136 AMEKICANISM CONTRASTED 

most baneful foe of a republican government. He saw it to be sure in a dif- 
ferent light from that in which it now presents itself; but he knew it would 
approach us in all forms, and hence he cautioned us against the insidious wiles 
of its influence. Therefore, as well for our own sakes, to whom this invaluable 
inheritance of self-government has been left by our forefathers, as for the sake 
of unborn millions who are to inherit this land — foreign and native — let us 
take warning of the Father of his Country, and do what we can justly to pre- 
serve our institutions from corruption and our country from dishonor, but let 
this be done by the people themselves in their sovereign capacity by making 
a proper discrimination in the selection of officers, and not by depriving any 
individual — native or foreign-born — of any constitutional or legal right to 
which he is entitled. 

"These are my sentiments in brief; and although I have sometimes almost 
despaired of my country when I have witnessed the rapid strides of corrup- 
tion, yet I think I perceive a gleam of hope in the future, and I now feel con- 
fident, that when the great mass of intelligence in this enlightened country is 
once fully aroused, and the danger manifested, it will fearlessly apply the 
remedy, and bring back the government to the pure days of Washington's 
administration. Finally, let us adopt the old Roman motto, 'Never despair of 
the Republic.' Let us do our duty, and trust in that Providence which has so 
signally watched over and preserved us for the result. But I have said more 
than I intended, and much more than I should have said to any one but a 
trusted friend, as I have no desire to mingle in political strife. 

" Remember me kindly to your family, and believe me truly your friend, 

" Millard Fillmore." 

In, March, 1851, Lewis Cass, than whom there is not a more 
devoted partisan in the Democratic ranks, delivered a speech on 
the floor of the United States Senate, in the course of which he 
paid the following just compliment to Mr. Fillmore's integrity, and 
to his efficiency in '■'"pacifying the country" while he was Presi- 
dent. We quote from the Congressional Globe, and hold it up as 
a withering rebuke to those "lesser lights" of Democracy, who are 
now defaming this pure and patriotic statesman : 

" The Administration'has placed itself high in the great work of pacifying 
the country, and they received the meed of approbation from political friends 
and political foes. I partake of the same sentiment. I do them justice. But 
I am a Democrat, and, God willing, I mean to die one. This is a Whig ad- 
ministration, but there is no reason I should not do them justice; and I do it 
with pleasure, in this great matter of the salvation of this country — if I may 
say so. I have done so ; shall continue to do so, whatever sneers their papers 
may contain ; for I do it not for their sake, hut for the sake of their country." 

The Democratic Review — the highest Democratic authority in 
the United States — for December, 1855, commenting upon the 
Compromise Measures of 1850, thus spoke of Mr. Fillmore, in a 
moment of candor, long before Mr. Fillmore was nominated by the 
American party for the Presidency : 

" Momentous events were transpiring. The agitation of the question of 
slavery was paramount in the public mind. In this crisis, it was well that so 
reliable a man as Mr. Fillmore was found in the Presidential chair. The 
safety and perpetuity of the Union were threatened. Already had fanaticism 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 137 

raised its hydro-head. Schemes and 'ism-' leaped from a thousand amboi 
cades. The enemies of the Union started forth on e\ cry aide— Abolitionism 
here; secessionists there; acquisition and Blibusterism elsewhere. These 
were the formidable elements of misrule with whioh the Executive had to 
cope. How well he met, and how entirely he for the time overcame these 
enemies of the peace of therepublio, we leave the historian to relate; but our 
retrospect would be incomplete and disingenuous, did we qo1 accord the meed 
of praise justly due to high moral excellence and intellectual and administra- 
tive honesty and talent, as developed in the administration of Mr. Fillmore." 

Since the foregoing was prepared for the press, Mr. Fillmore's 
letter of acceptance has come to hand, greatly to the annoyance of 
the Democratic and anti- American fuglemen and politicians. \\Y 
congratulate the country upon the patriotic, national, and truly 
American spirit which pervades this chaste and well-written docu- 
ment. It is just what we expected from one of the very first men 
in the Nation. His reference to his past course as a guaranty for 
the future is well-timed. Sectional legislation he is opposed to ; 
and sectional agitation he will use his influence to suppress. We 
ask every man into whose hands this work shall fall, to read this 
admirable letter for himself: it is worthy of the man and the times ; 
nay, it is the letter of a patriot and a statesman — 

"Who for his country feels alone, 
And loves her weal, beyond his own." 

[copy.] 

Philadelphia, Feb. 2Gtb, 1856. 
To the Hon. Millard Fillmore : 

Sir: — The National Convention of the American party, which has just 
closed its session in this city, has unanimously chosen you as the candidate 
for the Presidency of the United States in the election to be held in November 
next. It has associated with you Andrew Jackson Donelson, Esq., of Ten- 
nessee, as the candidate for the Vice-Presidency. 

The Convention has charged the undersigned with the agreeable duty of 
communicating these proceedings to yon, and of asking your acceptance of a 
nomination which will receive not only the cordial support of the great na- 
tional party in whose name it is made, but the approbation also of large num- 
bers of other enlightened friends of the Constitution and the Union, who will 
rejoice in the opportunity to testify their grateful appreciation of your faithful 
service in the past, and their confidence in your experience and integrity for 
the guidance of the future. 

The undersigned take advantage of this occasion to tender to you the 
expression of their own gratification in the proceedings of the Convention, and 
to assure you of the high consideration with which they are yours, & ■. 

Alexander II. II. Stuart, 
Andrew Stewart, 
Erastus Brooks, 
E. B. Bartlett, 
Wm. J. Eames, 
EpnRAisi Marsh. 

Committee, &c. 



138 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Paris, May 21st, 185G. 

Gentlemen: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter 
informing me that the National Convention of the American party, which had 
just closed its session at Philadelphia, had unanimously presented my name 
for the Presidency of the United States, and associated with it that of Andrew 
J&ckson Donelson for the Vice-Presidency. This unexpected communication 
met me at Venice on my return from Italy, and the duplicate, mailed thirteen 
days later, was received on my arrival in this city last evening. This must 
account for my apparent neglect in giving a more prompt reply. 

You will pardon me for saying that when my administration closed in 
1853, 1 considered my political life as a public man at an end, and thenceforth 
I was only anxious to discharge my duty as a private citizen. Hence I have 
taken no active part in politics. But I have by no means been an indifferent 
spectator of passing events ; nor have I hesitated to express my opinion on all 
political subjects when asked ; nor to give my vote and private influence for 
those men and measures I thought best calculated to promote the prosperity 
and glory of our common country. Beyond this I deemed it improper for me 
to interfere. But this unsolicited and unexpected nomination has imposed 
upon me a new duty, from which I cannot shrink ; and therefore, approving, as I 
do, of the general objects of the party which has honored me with its confi- 
dence, I cheerfully accept its nomination, without waiting to inquire of its 
prospects of success or defeat. It is sufficient for me to know that by so doing 
I yield to the wishes of a large portion of my fellow-citizens in every part of 
the Union, who, like myself, are sincerely anxious to see the administration 
of our government restored to that original simplicity and purity which 
marked the first years of its existence ; and, if possible, to quiet that alarm- 
ing sectional agitation, which, while it delights the Monarchists of Europe, 
causes every true friend of our own country to mourn. 

Having the experience of past service in the administration of the Govern- 
ment, I may be permitted to refer to that as the exponent of the future, and 
to say, should the choice of the Convention be sanctioned by the people, I 
shall, with the same scrupulous regard for the rights of every section of the 
Union which then influenced my conduct, endeavor to perform every duty 
confided by the Constitution and laws to the Executive. 

As the proceedings of this Convention have marked a new era in the his- 
tory of the country, by bringing a new political organization into the ap- 
proaching Presidential canvass, I take the occasion to reaffirm my full 
confidence in the patriotic purposes of that organization, which I regard as 
springing out of a public necessity, forced upon the country, to a large extent, 
by unfortunate sectional divisions, and the dangerous tendency of those divi- 
sions towards disunion. It alone, in my opinion, of all the political agencies 
now existing, is possessed of the power to silence this violent and disastrous 
agitation, and to restore harmony by its own example of moderation and for- 
bearance. It has a claim, therefore, in my judgment, upon every earnest 
friend of the integrity of the Union. 

So estimating this party, both in its present position and future destiny, I 
freely adopt its great leading principles as announced in the recent declara- 
tion of the National Council at Philadelphia, a copy of which you were so 
kind as to enclose me, holding them to be just and liberal to every true interest 
of the country, and wisely adapted to the establishment and support of an en- 
lightened, safe, and effective American policy, in full accord with the ideas 
and the hopes of the fathers of our Republic. 

I expect shortly to sail for America ; and, with the blessings of Divine Pro- 
vidence, hope soon to tread my native soil. My opportunity of comparing my 
own country and the condition of its people with those of Europe, has only 
served to increase my admiration and love for our own blessed land of liberty, 



with P0BJU9NJB1L 189 

and I shall return bo it without even a desire erer to otom the Atlantic 
again. 

I beg of jon, gentlemen, to aooepl my thanks for the very Battering manner 
in which you have been pleased to communicate the results of the aotion "i 
thai enlightened and patriotic body of men who composed the lateOonven- 
tion, ami to be assured thai 

1 am, with profound respect and esteem, 

Your friend and fellow-citizen, 

MILLARD FILLMORE. 

Messrs. Alex. H. 11 Stuart. Andrew Stewart. ESrastus Brooks, B. B. Bart- 

lett, Wm. J. Eames, Ephraim Marsh, Committee. 



140 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



WHO IS ANDREW J. DONELSON? 

This gentleman being now the nominee of the American party 
for the office of Vice-President, naturally attracts much of public 
attention ; and as a matter to be looked for, and not at all to be 
regretted, draws down upon him great abuse and slander from the 
hireling editors of the corrupt party opposing him. We will let a 
neighbor of Major Donelson, who has had access to his papers, 
and who has prepared and published in the Nashville Banner a 
sketch of his life, answer the question propounded at the head of 
this chapter : 

"Mr. Donelson is the second son of Samuel Donelson, deceased, who was 
the brother of the late Mrs. Jackson. His eldest brother died in 1817, soon 
after the Creek War, in which he participated as a soldier under General Jack- 
son. His death was announced to Mr. Donelson by General Jackson in the 
foHowing terms : ' Whilst we regret his loss, he has left us the endearing 
recollection that there was not a stain upon his character. He has per- 
formed his duty here below, and has taken his flight to realms above, as 
unspotted as an angel. What a lesson he has given us ! How delightful to 
dwell upon the idea that he has walked in the paths of virtue during his whole 
life, without a blemish on his character, and that all his friends may recount 
his acts with pi-ide and pleasure !' The younger brother is still living in the 
paternal mansion, and was a member of the last Legislature of Tennessee. 
The mother of these children afterwards married Mr. James Sanders, of Sum- 
ner county, Tennessee, and is still enjoying good health. She is the only 
daughter of Gen. Daniel Smith, who was one of the surveyors of the line 
between Virginia and North Carolina, and succeeded Gen. Jackson in the 
Senate of the United States. 

"General Smith had an important agency in shaping the early history of 
Tennessee — having represented a portion of the people in the North Carolina 
Legislature, and in the Convention which ratified the Constitution of the 
United States. He was also Secretary of the Territory, and a member of the 
Convention of 1790. He was a native of Virginia, and emigrated to Tennes- 
see soon after he had surveyed the line between that State and North Carolina, 
having, while in the execution of that service, seen the fine lands in Middle 
Tennessee. He settled the lands upon which his grandson, Henry Smith, now 
resides ; and built the mansion, which is still there, at a period when the 
men engaged in quarrying the rock had to be guarded from the attacks of the 
Indians. 

" The father of Samuel Donelson, Col. John Donelson, was also a native of 
Virginia, and at one time a Representative of one of her oldest counties, Pitt- 
sylvania, in the House of Burgesses. He possessed in an eminent degree the 
respect of the Provincial Governor of that Commonwealth, from whom he 



WITH FORKKJNISM. . Ill 

received the appointment of Indian Oommisaipnef about the year L770 ; and it 
is to his hold and enterprising spirit thai we are in a great measure indebted 
for the Indian Treaties which extended the settlements of Virginia through 

Kentucky to the Ohio river. He left Port Patrick Henry in 177'.'. descending 

the Tennessee river with all his family, in boats built on the Holston, and 
came up the Cumberland in those boats as high as the Clover Bottom, en 
countering incredible toils and dangers. Three years afterwards, in 1793, in 
conjunction with Col. Martin, he oonoluded an Indian Treaty, bj which the 

settlements on the Cumberland river were greatly benefited ; hut he had, pre- 
viously to his departure from Virginia, under a contract with Georgia, ex- 
plored the country, and run the line between that State and North Carolina, 

as far west as the Mississippi river. Alter settling his family near the present 

rite c if the Hermitage, he was killed by the Indians, on a journey to Kent neks. 

near the Big Barren River, at the advanced age of 75. 

"Samuel Donelson was a lawyer by profession, and the intimate friend and 

associate of Gen. Jackson, after whom he named his son Andrew, who was 
born on the 25th of Angust, 1800. On the second marriage of his mother. 
this son was taken into the family of the General, who became his guardian 
and patron ; and he remained the most of his time with him until he was pre- 
pared to enter the Cumberland College. After finishing his studies at this 
school, Gen. Jackson obtained for him a Cadet's warrant, which enabled him 
to enter the Military Academy at West Point, in 1810. He was one of the 
first class which was graduated under the superintendence of Col. Thayer — 
finishing the course of studies in three, instead of four years, as is customary. 
Throughout his service at West Point, he was distinguished for his proficiency 
in mathematics, and for the facility with which he mastered all the studies 
which appertain to military science. No higher proof need be adduced of this 
fact, than the position assigned to him by the Board of Examiners and Visitors, 
when he graduated. He was placed No. '2, in a class of great merit, notwith- 
standing lie had the studies of two years to pass through in one year, and wdfi 
recommended to the Department of War for a commission in the Engineer 
Corps — a compliment accorded only to the most distinguished of the class. 

"After obtaining his commission, Mr. Donelson was ordered to the Western 
frontier to build a fort ; but before he reached this destination, the War De- 
partment, on the application of Gen. Jackson, allowed him to accept the 
appointment of Aide-de-camp in the staff of the General. In this capacity lie 
attended the General when lie took possession of the Floridas, and remained 
with him until the latter resigned his commission in the army. 

"At this period, Mr. Donelson seeing no prospect for rapid promotion in the 
corps of Engineers, and sharing the conviction then so prevalent in the army, 
that the conclusion of the war with England had shut the door for a long time 
to come against those military enterprises which are so tempting to the officer 
and soldier, and feeling also that he could be more useful in the pursuits of 
civil life, turned his attention to the study of law. He accordingly resigned 
his commission ; and after attending the course of law lectures in the Tran- 
sylvania University, then under the presidency of Dr. Holly, he received his 
license, and appeared at the Nashville bar in 1823, having formed a partner- 
ship with Mr. Duncan. Circumstances, however, soon occurred, which with- 
drew him in a great degree from the practice. General Jackson was again in 
the field as a candidate for the Presidency, and needed the services of a confi- 
dential friend to aid him in repelling the bitter a>saults which were made 
upon his character and services. Animated by a deep sense of gratitude, no 
duty could be more pleasing to Mr. Donelson than that of contributing his 
labor to advance the great popular movement which aimed, by the elevation 
of his benefactor and friend, to promote the highest interests of the country. 
He therefore cheerfully entered again into the General's family, and travelled 



142 - AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

with him to Washington City after the elections in 1824. Those elections 
devolved the choice of President upon the House of Representatives. Mr. 
Adams was the successful candidate, although Gen. Jackson had a much 
larger popular vote, and was evidently the favorite of the people. 

"As is well known to the country, the result of that election gave increased 
force to the sentiment which had placed Gen. Jackson in nomination. The 
efforts of his friends throughout the Union became more active, and were 
never abated until the decision of the House of Representatives in 1824 was 
reversed, and Gen. Jackson placed in the Presidential chair. During these 
four years, Mr. Donelson, who had married in 1824, settled upon his planta- 
tion adjoining the Hermitage, and continued there to promote the cause he 
had espoused so warmly in the beginning. 

"When the elections of 1828 were over, Gen. Jackson insisted upon the 
acceptance by Mr. Donelson of the post of private Secretary. Mr. D. accord- 
ingly set out with him in the winter of 1828 for the city of Washington, 
taking with him his wife, whom he had married in 1824. This lady was the 
youngest daughter of Capt. John Donelson, and was invited by Gen. Jackson 
to do the honors of the White House — a position which she held throughout 
the greater portion of his Presidency. 

"It was in this capacity that Mr. Donelson endeared himself still more 
than ever to the Hero of the Hermitage. He spent the prime of his life, from 
1828 to 1836, in his service, and he felt himself amply rewarded by the know- 
ledge he thus acquired of public men and measures. 

"At the close of Gen. Jackson's Presidency, Mr. Donelson declined to take 
office under Mr. Van Buren, being anxious for a respite from public affairs, 
and to enjoy the pleasures of his farm ; upon which he remained until he was 
called unexpectedly to take a part in the negotiation which brought Texas 
into our Union. It was upon this theatre that he displayed the judgment and 
tact which brought him prominently before the country as a man that under- 
stood the public interests, and knew how to take care of them. 

" The commission appointing Mr. Donelson Minister to Texas is dated the 
16th of September, 1844. Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of State, in the letter 
enclosing the commission, says : 

" 'The state of things in Texas is such as to require that the place (Charge 
d' Affaires) should be filled without delay, and to select him who, under all 
circumstances, may be thought best calculated to bring to a successful deci- 
sion the great question of annexation pending before the two countries. After 
full deliberation, you have been selected as that individual ; and I do trust, 
my dear sir, that you will not decline the appointment, however great may 
be the personal sacrifice of accepting. That great question must be decided 
in the next three or four months ; and whether it shall be favorable or not, 
will depend on him who shall fill the mission now tendered you. I need not 
tell you how much depends on its decision for weal or woe to our country, and 
perhaps the whole continent. It is sufficient to say that, viewed in all its con- 
sequences, it is one of the first magnitude ; and that it gives an importance to 
the mission at this time, that raises it to the level with the highest in the gift 
of the Government. 

" 'Assuming, therefore, that you will not decline the appointment, unless 
some insuperable difficulty should interpose, and in order to avoid delay, a 
commission is herewith transmitted, without the formality of waiting your 
acceptance, with all the necessary papers/ " 

President Polk, after this, confided an important and most criti- 
cal foreign negotiation to Major Donelson ; and his estimate of the 
prudence, discretion, and ability with which Major Donelson dis- 
charged his trust, appears from a letter to Major D. from the Hon. 



WITH FOREKJNISM. I L8 

John Y. Mason, President Polk's Secretary of War, dated August 
7th, 1845. From that letter, complimentary from beginning to 
end, we copy only this portion : 

"The services which you have rendered your country in the delicate nego- 
tiations intrusted bo you, are justly appreciated. Tour "prudence, discretion, 
and ability Imr'' inspired the President with a confidence which would make him 
feel much more at ease if that delicate task could be in your hands. 

"It gives me great pleasure to assure you that the publication of your official 
correspond! nee u-ilt give you a most enviable reputation for the highest qualities 
of a statesman and diplomatist. 

"The President unites in the kindest regards, with your friend, 

"J. Y. MASON." 

President Pierce's opinion of Major Donelson may be learned 
from the following letter, written by him to the Major when the 
latter was the editor of the Washington Union, the National 
Organ of the Democratic party : 

"Concord, May 30, 1851. 
"My Dear Sir: I rejoice that the leading organ of our party is now under 
your control, and regard the change as most auspicious at this juncture. There 
is a great battle before us — a battle for the Union— a battle for the ascen- 
dency of the principles, the maintenance of which so nobly signalized the ad- 
ministration of General Jackson. The tone, vigor, and statesmanlike grasp 
which you hare brought to the columns of the Union are not merely impo 
they are absolutely indispensable in this crisis. 

"With great respect, your friend and servant, 

"FRANK. PIERCE." 

The following article is from the Nashville Union, of October 
15, 1844, the Tennessee Organ of Democracy, published within a 
few miles of where Major Donelson lives, and has passed most of 
his life. This article shows what opinion was entertained of him 
before he became a Know-Nothing : 

"The diplomatic agency of this government in Texas is, at this moment, tin- 
most important mission abroad ; although it ranks with those of the second 
class, its high and important duties recpaire the taints of one everyway quali- 
fied for the first foreign mission on the globe. 

"We congratulate the administration on having been able to secure the se\ 
of one so eminently qualified in all respects J "or the station, whose thorough know- 
ledge of the relations subsisting between (he two countries, and whose in 
acquaintance with the prominent statesmen of this rn,<l that government, mill 
place him in the enjoyment of advantages which cannot fait to secure to us the 
most desirable rcsidts. 

"Major Donelson leaves his plantation near the Hermitage feo-day— proceed- 
inf overland to the Mississippi river on his way to the Texan Capital — and 
we^ cannot but participate in the painful emotions with whicfi the word 
' farewell' will be exchanged between himself and his venerable patron, friend, 
and relative, ' The Sage of the Hermitage.' 

"In view of the advanced age of General Jackson, it is more than probable 
that they may never meet again. A relationship next to that of father and 
son, if, indeed, it be not equally near and dear, will be severed perhaps for 



144 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

ever. And we feel assured that nothing short of a sense of huty to his coun- 
try could have induced an acceptance of the mission. Nor, for this patriotic 
reason, would the aged veteran advise him to decline it. 

"Major D. leaves a host of good and true friends, who will continue to have 
an abiding solicitude for his health and happiness, and for his early and com- 
plete success in 'extending the area of freedom.'" 

Mr. Clayton, Secretary of State under Gen. Taylor, wrote to 
Major Donelson, announcing the expiration of the diplomatic rela- 
tions between the United States and Germany, (where the Major 
was stationed,) and closed with the following complimentary ex- 
pressions : 

" I am directed by the President to express to you his entire approbation of 
your conduct, and I cannot take leave of you in your public character with- 
out adding my testimony to that of the President, to the ability and faithful- 
ness with which you have discharged the arduous and»delicate duties which 
your mission imposed upon you. JOHN M. CLAYTON." 

The Democratic party having always boasted that Gen. Jackson 
was unsurpassed in his keen and unerring insight into the characters 
of men, we must be permitted to call their attention to a clause in 
the Last Will and Testament of Gen. Jackson, as recorded in the 
county of Davidson. This clause sets forth the estimate placed 
upon Mr. Donelson by the old General, after this fashion : 

"Hermitage, June 7, 1843. 
******* 

"I bequeath to my well beloved nephew, Andrew J. Donelson, son of Sam- 
uel Donelson, deceased, the elegant sword presented to me by the State of 
Tennessee, with this injunction, that he fail not to use it when necessary in 
support and protection of our glorious Union, and for the protection of the 
constitutional rights of our beloved country, should they be assailed by foreign 
enemies or domestic traitors. This, from the great change in my worldly 
affairs of late, is, with my blessing, all that I can bequeath him, doing justice 
to those creditors to whom I am responsible. This bequest is made as a me- 
mento of the high regard, affection, and esteem I bear for him as a high- 
minded, honest, and honorably man." 

And now, to show that Gen. Jackson had not changed his opin- 
ion of the Major, we give about the last epistle he ever wrote to 
him, as it bears date but a few days previous to his death : 

" Hermitage, May 24, 1845. 
"My Dear Anduev/: I received las night your affectionate letter of the 15th 
inst., with the enclosed for your dear Elizabeth, which I sent forthwith, and 
your kind letter of the 13th this morning. Your family were here yesterday. 
All well, but looking out for you hourly. I assured Elizabeth that you could 
not leave your mission before the Texan Congress acted upon the subject with 
which you w r ere charged. I shall admonish her to be patient and await your 
return, which will be the moment your honor and duty will permit. 

****** * 

" My dear Andrew: — What may be my fate God only knows. I am greatly 
afflicted — suffer much, and it will be almost a miracle if I shall survive my 



WITH FOREIONIBM. 145 

present attack. I am swollen from the tecs to the crown of the head, and in 
bandages to my hips. 

" How Air my God may think proper to hear mo up under my weight of 
afflictions, he only knows. But, my dear Major, livo or die, you have my 
blessiDg and prayers for your welfare and happiness in this world, and that 
we may meet in a blissful immortality. 

"Your affectionate uncle, 

"ANDREW JACKSON." 

While editor of the Washington Union, Major Donclson frankly 
admitted, in his account of the election in Tennessee, between 
Gov. Campbell and Gen. Trousdale, that the latter owed his defeat 
to his opposition to the Compromise measures, and his sympathies 
with the Disunionists. In the Hartford Convention held in Nash- 
ville, the Major appeared in person, and denounced the whole con- 
cern as a blow at the Union, and its prime movers and advocates 
as traitors to their country and to the Constitution. These Seces- 
sion Democrats, headed by A. V. Brown, Eastman & Co., are 
uncompromising in their hatred of the Major, and they never will 
forgive him, while he remains true to the Union of these States, 
and the Constitution as it is, which will be to the latest hour of his 
earthly existence ! Had he never opposed the treasonable designs 
of the Nashville Convention — and had he not advocated the doc- 
trines of the American party, these same men would now be loud 
in his praise, as the relative, the political student, and the successor 
of the Sage of the Hermitage ! 



10 



14'3 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



[From the Knoxville Whig of June 14, 1856.] 

BUCHANAN NOMINATED AT CINCINNATI.— DISPER- 
SION OF FALSTAFFS ARMY! 

The Cincinnati Anti-American, Anti-Protestant, Foreign Ca- 
tholic, Locofoco Pow Wow, has met — transacted its appropriate 
business — nominated old Federal James Buchanan, of Pennsylva- 
nia, for the Presidency, and Robert C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, 
for the Vice Presidency — and dispersed : dealing largely in the old 
game of brag, as to the nationality, soundness, and ability of their 
ticket ; when it is notorious, that they have at the head of their 
ticket one of the most vulnerable men in the nation ; an old poli- 
tical hack, who has been "every thing by turns and nothing long;" 
advocating and opposing all the leading measures which have agi- 
tated the country for the last forty years, as we shall show in the 
sequel ! 

They had an awful time at Cincinnati ! They organized by call- 
ing to the chair, temporarily, the notorious Sam I. Medary, the 
Abolition editor of the Ohio Statesman. Either the anti-slavery 
forces were in the majority, or the "odds and ends" of all parties 
represented in the Convention desired to conciliate the Abolition 
and Black Republican wings of their Foreign Corporation ! 

The Missouri Delegation were refused their seats, and they 
openly rebelled, forcing their way into the Convention with clubs, 
knocking down and cruelly mangling the head and shoulders of the 
poor doorkeeper ! From this, it would seem that they were doing 
business with closed doors! Wonder if they had a p> a ssivord ! 
Had they "signs and grips," other than those by which they made 
themselves known to the doorkeeper? 

Did they carry with them " dark-lanterns?" Not they — they 
are opposed to all secrecy — they are opposed to all disorderly con- 
duct — they are the "harmonious Democracy," and labor alone for 
the good of the country, and of posterity ! What a farce their 
Cincinnati Convention was ! And what hypocrites they are ! 

But two full sets of Delegates appeared from New York, and 
claimed their seats ; these were Ilards and Softs — Pierce and anti- 
Pierce — Nebraska and anft'-Nebraska — pro-Slavery and anft'-Sla- 



WITH POEM 1 17 

very, Filibustering Foreign Catholic Democrat*! Being anal 
agree among themselves, and the Convention uot wishing to i feno 
either of these wings of the "great Harmonious Democratic Party," 
they rejected both delegations! 1 having a bad effect, ae 

rtion of each delegation was out of doors cursing the majority, 
and making threats as to what they would do. So the Conv< 
reconsidered their oases, and ADMITTED BOTH DELI 
TIONS TO SEATS. They then pr d "harmoniou 

much after the style of a rickety old cart od a hill-side, drawn by 
a balky horse, whose driver curses him when at fault, and c 
him when faultless. 

Frequently the scenes of confusion and excitement were alike 
disgusting and alarming. The friends <>f Douglass, Pierce, and 
Buchanan, were alike bitter, and each disposed to ruin the party if 
they should fail to get their man nominated. The anti-slavery 
portion of the Convention were much incensed against the South 
for the "lam-basting" given to Senator Sumner by Repn 
Brooks, for words spoken in debate. One of Buchanan's men 
boasted that the assault of Brooks on Sumner had gained twenty 
votes for "Old Buck L" And others of the Buchanan wing, out of 
doors. siting that they had reliable evidence that "Old Buck" 

did not approve the assault, while Pierce and Douglass did! We 
have no doubt that this sort of influence, added to Buchanan's 
known hostility to slavery, secured for him the nomination. And. 
as if desirous to atone for the sin against the South of nominating 
an old Anti-Slavery Federalist, they came into a Southern State. 
Kentucky, and selected a young and inexperienced politician. Mr. 
Robert ('. Breekenridge, for the Vice Presidency. As Brecken- 
ridge is brave, and has challenged his man for a duel, they can now 
turn about and appeal to the Church-going folks to sustain their 
ticket//;- what they implored them to repudiate the Whig ticket in 
1844! Pesides, Breekenridge approves the basting of Sumner by 
Brooks, and this will offset Buchanan's opposition to that Sovi 
Democratic measure' Breekenridge has another virtue, which 
aided in securing his nomination. Though the nephew of those 
able Know-NotJiinn Presbyterian Preachers of that State, he has 
the independence to come out in opposition to them, and the insult- 
ing claims set up by Protestants generally, and to advocate and 
defend the Roman Catholics. 

The "rich and racy" scenes that came off in the Convention, we 
will leave our several friends from Nashville, who were ther 
reporters in the Convention for the American papers, to Bel forth. 
With more truth than poetry, the "nnterrified Democracy" con- 
vened at Cincinnati can say, "Our army swore terribly in inlan- 
ders !'* And how could it have been otherwise : The Convention 



148 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

was large — composed of several hundred delegates, drawn together 
from all sections of the country, East, West, North, and South — 
"held together by the cohesive power of public plunder" — and 
representing every variety and shade of opinion known and held 
under the much abused but comprehensive name of Democracy ! 
Nor was the moral and personal character of the Convention less 
mixed and many-colored than was its politics. 

In looking over the proceedings of this coalition and combination 
of Bogus Democrats, Foreign Pauper Advocates, and anti-Protest- 
ant lovers of Religious Liberty, we have looked in vain for the 
names of distinguished Tennesseeans, who ought to have been sec- 
ond best, to say the least of it, in the ballots for a nomination ! It 
was that Aaron V. Brown, "the son of a now sainted father," was 
put in nomination for the office of Vice President, by a Mr. Brown, 
supposed to be his nephew; but making no run at all, he was taken 
off the track instantly — rubbed down and salted away ! 

But Andrew Johnson, who was to have been nominated for the 
first office within the gift of the American people and no mistake, (!) 
was not even named, and some say he was not even thought of for 
the position. We had supposed that there existed among the 
leaders of the self-styled Democracy, a determination to doom to 
utter extinction the light that has guided the children of Political 
Reform in Tennessee, and throughout the known world, and now 
we know it ! The opposers of intellectual emancipation, of "Jacob's 
Ladder Democracy," so superior to Christianity, have triumphed 
at Cincinnati, and trampled under foot, with impunity, the soul- 
stirring doctrine of "converging lines." The next steps with these 
"enemies of righteousness" will be the rack, the gibbet, and a 
second edition of the infernal inquisition ! Will the friends of the 
"White Basis" Governor of Tennessee tamely surrender their 
dearest rights to these Cincinnati crusaders, without a single strug- 
gle ? Will they allow the saddle of Federal domination to be 
quietly thrown on their backs ? Ye Greene county delegates for- 
bid it ! 

But Johnson is doomed to an inglorious retirement from public 
life. He can console himself with the reflection, that rank only 
degrades — wealth only impoverishes — ornaments but disfigure him ! 
The man who discovered that the Bogus Democracy of the nine- 
teenth century leads fallen sinful man to the throne of God, needs 
no office to elevate him. These Johnson Democrats enjoy the pure 
religion of Democracy — a religion which enters the closet — pours 
forth its supplications in private, feeds the poor, clothes the naked — 
inflames not the prejudices of Protestant sects — is modest and un- 
assuming in its demeanor — is charitable and kind to the persecuted 
and pious Catholics — bears with the infirmities of Foreign Pau- 



WITH FOKEIUNISM. 143 

pers — is not ambitious and designing, seeking to accomplish vaat 
schemes by doubtful means ! 

"SN" 1 1 i 1 « » Old (federal I Jnek was nominated on the eyenteenth bal- 
lot, after rnueh exoitement, wrangling ami abuse, young Breoken- 
ridge, whose only merit is his having challenged the linn. Francis 
B. Cutting, of New York, to fight a duel, two years :iL r <>, WM nom- 
inated on the second ballot. The ballot for a candidate lor the 
Vice Presidency resulted as follows : 

John C. Breckcnridge, of Kentucky, 

John A. Quitman, of Mississippi, ... 59 

Linn Boyd, of Kentucky, - - • - - 33 

Benjamin Fitzpatriek, of Alabama, - - - 11 

Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, - - - -89 

Hersehel V. Johnson, of Georgia, 81 

Thomas J. Rusk, of Texas, - - - 2 

Wm. II. Polk, of Tennessee, ... - 5 

J. C. Dobbin, of North Carolina, - - - -13 

A second ballot was entered into, when lion. John C. Breckcn- 
ridge, of Kentucky, was unanimously chosen. 

Tennessee, in voting for a Presidential candidate, voted SIX 
times for Pierce, and EIGHT times for Douglass, and never came 
over to old Federal Buck until they could do nothing for Pierce 
or Douglass. Buck seems to have been a fill for Tennessee ! But 
now, the Tennessee Democracy say : 

" With hounds and horn, 
At rosy morn, 
We Bucks a hunting go !" 

Well, we Americans will get after Old Buck's venison too, and 
between this and November next, many will be the steak we shall 
eat out of his old Federal carcass. It is venison worthy of the 
chase, for 

" Finer or fatter 

Ne'er roamed in the forest, 

Or smoked in a platter." 

So— 

" Hi, ho, Chevy, 
Hark away, hark away, tantivy, 
Here rests the burthen of my song, 
This time a stag must die." 

But Democracy have commenced their old game of brag, by 
puffing their ticket as a national and conservative ticket, the very 
thing they denied. Now let us look into the soundness and na- 
tionality of the HEAD of the ticket. We have before us a copy 
of a work published in 1839, by Robert Mayo, M. D., entitled, 



150 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

"Political Sketches of Eight Years in Washington, in four parts." 
This work has gone through various editions, having been published 
by Fielding Lucas, Jr., of Baltimore ; Garret Anderson, of Wash- 
ington ; J. R. Smith, of Richmond ; Carey, Hart & Co., of Phila- 
delphia, and by others in New York and Boston. On page 88 of 
this work, which Mr. Buchanan has never contradicted, he is 
reported to have denounced the visions, patronage, and corruptions 
of the Democratic Administrations, while he, Buchanan, was a 
member of the Old Federal Party. 

On page 6 of this work, in the preface, the author says, in speak- 
ing of Buchanan before he turned Democrat : 

" The declarations of some of thfese new disciples of Democracy in past times 
are striking enough. MR. BUCHANAN of PENNSYLVANIA, while he 
acted in his true character, DECLARED THAT IF HE HAD A DROP OF 
DEMOCRATIC BLOOD IN HIS VEINS, HE WOULD LET IT OUT ! 
He put his royal declaration on paper, and it has risen up against him." 

A recent brief memoir of Mr. Buchanan, put forth in Pennsyl- 
vania, states that he was elected to the Legislature in 1815, where 
he distinguished himself by those exhibitions of intellect which gave 
promise of future eminence. The Lancaster Register, published 
in the immediate' vicinity of Mr. Buchanan's residence, asks by 
whom was he elected ? and thus supplies the record for 1815 : 

ASSEMBLY. 

For JAMES BUCHANAN, Federal 3051 

" Molton 0. Rogers, Democrat 2502 

The memoir sets forth that Mr. Buchanan was elected to Con- 
gress in 1820, and that he retained his position in that body for 
ten years, voluntarily retiring. 

The Lancaster Register inquires if he Avere elected as a Demo- 
crat, and answers the inquiry by the following historical facts : 

Congress. 

1820— James Buchanan, Federal 4642 

" Jacob Ilibsman, Democrat 3666 

1822— James Buchanan, Federal 2153 

" Jacob Hibsmau, Democrat 1040 

1824 — James Buchanan, Federal 3560 

" Samuel Houston, Democrat 3046 

1826— James Buchanan, Federal 2760 

" Dr. John McCamant, Democrat 2307 

1828— James Buchanan, Jackson 5203 

" William Hiester, Adams 3904 

The Lancaster Register then pursues its criticism as follows : 

"On the 4th of July, 1815, Mr. Buchanan, when he was a candidate for 
Assembly on the Federal ticket, delivered ' an oration' in Lancaster, in which 



WITU F0RHIOBI8M, L53 

be showed his lotx of Federalism and hatred of Demooracy, by atta 
Administration of James Madison. He said: 

" 'Time will not allow to enumerate ;ill the other evils and wioked j n-« ■ 

jeots of the Democratic administration.' 

" And again, in the same oration, be said : 

••'What must be our opinion <>f an opposition whose pa ere a 

dark and malignant as to be gratified in endeavoring to bias! the character 
and imbitter the old age ofWashington '.' After thus persecuting the saviour 
of his country, how can the Democratic party dan to call tht 
cipkst'" 

And who does not recollect, in Tennessee, with what force and 
effect JAM ES C. JONES used to point out JAMES BUCBLA N A N 
as one of the rank old Federalists who had come over to the Demo- 
cratic ranks, and was battling with Col. Polk, side by Bide, while 
he was consuming half his time in abuse of the Federal party ? 
When the Democratic candidate for Congress in this District, 
JULIUS W. BLACKWELL, charged Federalism upon the Whig 
party, who does not recollect with what effect and spirit J( > 1 1 N II. 
CROZIER ran over the list of ODIOUS OLD FEDERALISTS, 
then fighting under the Democratic flag, among them naming out 
JAMES BUCHANAN? And will not the files of the KNOX- 
VILLE POST, edited by Capt. JAMES WILLIAMS, show how 
he held up JAMES BUCHANAN and others as an old Federalist 
of the first water? 

On the subject of Slavery the memoir is not definite, and the 
Lancaster Register comes to its aid by publishing the following 
proceedings of a public meeting held in that city on the 23d of 
November, 1819 : 

"Whereas, the people of this State, pursuing the maxims and animated by 
the beneficence of the great founder of Pennsylvania, first gave effect t<> the 
gradual abolition of slavery by a national act, which has uot only rescued the 
unhappy and helpless African within their territory from the demoralising 
influence of Blavery, but ameliorating his state and (Condition throughout 
Europe and America ; and whereas, it would illy comport with those humane 
and Christian efforts to be silent spectators when this great cause of human- 
ity is about to be agitated in Congress, by fixing the destinj of the new do- 
mains of the United States: therefore, 

Resolved, That the representatives in Congress from this district be and 
they are hereby most earnestly requested to use their utmost endeavor 
members of the National Legislature, to prevent the existence of slavery in 
any "f the Territories or new States which may be created by ' 

"Resolved, As the opinion of this meeting, that as the Legislature of this 
State wiU shortly he in session, it will be highly deserving of their wisdom 
and patriotism to take into their early and most serious oonsid< ration the pro- 
priety of instructing our representatives in the .National Legislature to DSC 
the most zealous and strenuous exertions to inhibit the existence of Blavery in 
any of the Territories or States which may hereafter be created by 
and that the members of Assembly from thi< county be requested to embrace 
the earliest opportunity of bringing this subji of the 

Legislature. 



152 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

" Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, the members of Congress 
•who at the last session sustained the cause of justice, humanity, and patriot- 
ism, in opposing the introduction of slavery into the State then endeavored 
to be formed out of the Missouri Territory, are entitled to the warmest thanks 
of every friend of humanity. 

" Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the news- 
papers in this city. James Hopkins, 

Wm. Jenkins, 
JAMES BUCHANAN." 

" The foregoing resolutions being read were unanimously adopted, after 
which the meeting adjourned. (Signed) 

WALTER FRANKLIN, Ch'n. 

"Attest — Wm. Jenkins, Sec'y." 

The "Perry County Democratic Press," for April 9th, 1856, 
an able paper published at Bloornfield in Pennsylvania, shows up 
the Federal anti-slavery, anti-Democratic, turn-coat character of 
Mr. Buchanan, after this fashion : 

james Buchanan's somersets. 

" No man in the United States has turned his political coat as often as James 
Buchanan. He has espoused the principles of every party that has had an 
existence since the memorable Hartford Convention, and has been on all sides 
of political questions. 

"A brief reference to his history will establish conclusively our assertions. 

his federalism. 

" He entered political life in 1814 as a rank Federalist, and by the Federal 
party he was elected to the Legislature of the State. He was re-elected in 
1815, defeating Molton C. Rogers, the Democratic candidate, and afterwards 
one of the Supreme Judges of the State. 

" In 1820, he was the Federal candidate for Congress, and was elected over 
Jacob Hibsman, the Democratic candidate, by 97G majority. In 1822, he was 
reelected over the same man by 813 majority. In 1824, he was the Federal 
candidate for Congress, and elected over Samuel Houston, the Democratic 
candidate, by 519 votes. In 182G, he was reelected over Dr. John McCamant, 
the Democratic candidate, by 453 votes. His majorities were becoming less 
each time, and in order to satisfy his Federal friends of his fidelity to the 
party, he had to declare that ' if he had a drop of Democratic blood in his 
veins, he would open them and let it out.' 

HE BECOMES A DEMOCRAT. 

" Two years after this, he changed his coat and became a full-blooded 
Democrat, and ran for Congress as the Democratic candidate, and was elected 
by virtue of General Jackson's popularity. He was afraid to run a second 
term, and he declined. 

HIS TEN CENT SPEECH. 

" In 1843, in the United States Senate, he made a speech advocating the 
principle that ten cents is a sufficient compensation for a day's labor. Hence 
he is called ' Ten Cent Jimmy.' 

" In 1845, he became Secretary of State under Polk's administration, and 



WITH KOKKIGNISM. 1 51 

consented to give away about half of the Territory of Oregon to theBritii 
government, after he bad proven that they had nol a spark of title t<> it. 

'• Be extolled the Federal administration of John Adams, and endorsed tin- 
abominable Alien and Sedition laws of the Federal reign of terror. He bit- 
terly denounced tli" administration of thai pure Democrat, Jamei Mad 
and ridiculed what he termed the follies of Thomas Jefferson. 

ins si.aveuv somasxTs. 

" In 1819, at a meeting in Lancaster, ho reported resolutions favoring re- 
sistance to the extension of slavery and the admission of the State of Missouri 

as a slave State. 

"In 1847, he wrote to the Democracy of Berks county, Baying that the 
Missouri Compromise had given peace to the oountry, and that instead of re- 
pealing it he was in favor of its extension and maintenance. 

" In 1850, in a letter to Col. Forney, he rejoiced over the settlement of the 
slavery agitation by the passage of the compromise measures during Fill- 
more's administration, and hoped that before a dissolution of the I'nlon he 
might be gathered to his fathers, and never be permitted to witn< 
catastrophe. 

"In 1852, he wrote to Mr. Leake, of Virginia, concerning Fillmore's com- 
promise measures of 1850, which had been passed by Congress, ami said, 'that 
the volcano has been extinguished, and the man who would apply the lire- 
brand to the combustible materials still remaining, will produce an eruption 
that will overwhelm the Constitution and the Union." 

BUCIIANAN'S LAST SOMERSET. 

" On the 28th of December, 1855, about three months ago, Mr. Buchanan, 
in a letter to John Slidell, of Louisiana, says : 'The Missouri Compromise is 
gone, and gone fur ever. It has departed. The time for it has passed away, 
and the best, nay. the only mode now left of putting down the fanatical and 
reckless spirit of the North is to adhere to the existing settlement without the 
slightest thought or appearance of wavering, and without regarding any 
storm which may bo raised against it." 

Here, then, is an authentic record — if the reader please, a 
GILT-FRAME PENNSYLVANIA LOOKING-GLASS, in 
which the Democracy of the South who admire the nominee of the 
late Cincinnati Convention can see him as lie is ! Heretofore, to 
use the language of Holy Writ, they have seen him " through a 
glass darkly, but now face to face." Here they see him standing 
erect upon the floor of the United States Senate, in all the pride 
of that aristocracy which has characterized his course in life, and 
giving vent to the old and bitter feelings of the royalists in Penn- 
sylvania, by advocating the oppressive British doctrine, that TEN 
CENTS PER DAY is enough for a poor white man as a day- 
laborer ! And here, too, our hard-fisted working-men, North and 
South, can see what sort of a man the Democracy are asking them 
to vote for for the Presidency ! 

In his Fourth of July oration in 1815, delivered in the hearing 
of an immense crowd, and afterwards published in all the leading 
papers of Pennsylvania, Mr. Buchanan came out as a Knoiv- 



1.54 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Nothing, which he has now to repudiate in stepping upon the 
Anti-American Catholic Platform prepared for him at Cincinnati ! 
Here is what he said in that celebrated oration : 

" The greater part of those foreigners who would not be thus affected by it, 
have long been the warmest friends of the party. They had been one of the 
ins of elevating t7ie present ruling (Democratic) party, and it would 
have been ungrateful for that party to have abandoned them. To secure this 
foreign feeling has been the labor of their leaders for more than twenty years, 
and well have they been paid for their trouble, for it has been one of the prin- 
cipal causes of introducing and continuing them in power. Immediately 
before the war this foreign influence had completely embodied itself with the 
majority, particularly in the West, and its voice was heard so loud at the seat 
of government, that President Madison was obliged either to yield to its dic- 
tates or retire from office. The choice was easily made by a man who pre- 
ferred his private interests to the public good, and therefore hurried us into a 
war for which wc were utterly unprepared." 

And then again : 

" We ought to use every honest exertion to turn out of power those weak 
and wicked men whose wild and visionary theories have been tested and found 
wanting. Above all, we ought to drive from our shores foreign influence, and 
cherish American feeling. Foreign influence has been in every age the curse 
of republics — its jaundiced eye sees every thing in false colors — the thick 
atmosphere of prejudice by which it is ever surrounded, excluding from its 
sight the light of reason. Let us then learn wisdom from experience, and for 
ever banish this fiend from our country." 

And here is what JACKSON thought of BUCHANAN. The 
Democratic Washington correspondent of the New York Evening 
Post, who was favorable to the nomination of Pierce, makes this 
statement — a statement we have often heard before, and never 
heard contradicted : 

"On the night before leaving Nashville to occupy the White House, Mr. 
Polk, in company with Gen. Robert Armstrong, called at the Hermitage to 
procure some advice from the old hero as to the selection of his cabinet. 
•Jackson strongly urged the President-elect to give no place in it to Buchanan, 
as he could not be relied upon. It so happened that Polk had already deter- 
mined to make that very appointment, having probably offered the situation 
to the statesman of Pennsylvania. This fact induced Gen. Armstrong subse- 
quently to tell Jackson that he had given Polk a rather hard rub, as Buchanan 
had already been selected for Secretary of State. ' I can't help it/ said the 
old man : ' I felt it my duty to warn him against Mr. Buchanan, whether it 
was agreeable or not. Mr. Polk will find Buchanan an unreliable man. I 
know him well, and Mr. Polk will yet admit the correctness of my predic- 
tion.' 

" It Avas the last visit ever made by Mr. Polk to the old hero when this 
unavailing remonstrance was delivered, but the new President, long before 
the end of his administration, had reason to acknowledge its propriety and 
justice, and in the diary kept by him during that period may still be read a 
most emphatic declaration of his distrust of Mr. Buchanan. Every one is 
aware of two marked instances in which, as Secretary of State, the latter 
failed to support the 1 policy of the administration, viz., on the question of the 
tariff of 1846, and the requisition of the ten regiments voted by Congress for 



WITH P0RBIGNI8M. 

the Mexican war. Qa both of these measures he was knows to be opposed to 
the wishes of Mr. Polk." 

Mr. Charles Trving, the Democratic editor of the Lynohburg 
Republican, and a delegate at Richmond in the State Convention, 
thus disposes of Mr. Buchanan b a long and able letter, dated 
May 7th, 1856: 

"If silence during the battle constitutes n claim for office, how can I 
South expect Northern statesmen to uphold her banner, when abolitionist* 

arc seeking to tear it to tatters? If an ability to gel IV soil 

candidate available, and that species of availability is n 
atthe South, Northern statesmen should court Free-soilers, and no! 
with them, if they wish to be Presidents. Such availability maybe very 
desirable to those 'who -wish success alone, but those who look to the in' 
of lie country may well be excused if theyprefer a different standard. I 
t&mljprefer that the South shall PREFER the selection, not only of a Bound 
man, but that she shall vote for the nomination of no man upon am 
ground of availability. The coming election must settle the bIi tation. 

I do not wish a single free-soiler to vote the Democrat! will 1 

willingly afford them the slightest excuse for so doing. A prominent North- 
West Democrat told me to-day, that the nomin Mr. Buchanan would 
enable Trumbull, Wentworth, and other free-soilers to come back into the 
party. I am not anxious to get back such characters. These are Borne 
reasons for nor preferring Mr. Buchanan. 

" But there is still another reason. That reason is in his record. To carry 
the entire South, we must have not only a sound man, but one who b a 
impeachment— whose record is as stainless as the principles he advocates. Is 
such 'he case with Mr. Buchanan? Let the record answer. 

"On the 27th of December, 1837, Mr. Calhoun submitted to the Senate that 
celehrated series of resolutions, the great objects of which were t.. set forth 
with precision and force the constitutional rights of the slaveholding v 
and to attract to their Bupport an enlightened public opinion against the 
attacks of Northern fanaticism. The second resolution was in these words: 
(Calhoun's Works, volume 3, page 140.) 

" 'Resolved, That in delegating a portion of their powers to he exercised by 
the Federal Government, the States retained severally the exclusive an I 
right over their own domestic institutions and police, and are alone responsi- 
ble for them, and that any intermeddling of anyone or more States, or a 
comhination id' their citizens, with the domestic institutions and police of the 
others, on anv ground or under any pretext whatever, political, moral, or 
religious, with a view to their alteration or subversion, is an assumption oi 
superiority doI warranted by the Constitution, insulting to the States inter- 
fered with', tending to endanger their dom e and tranquilli 
sive of the ohjects for which the Constitution was formi 
consequence, tending to weaken and destroy the I uion itself.' 

"Mr. Morris of Ohio, who was then the only avowed Abolitionist 
Senate, moved t.» strike out the words 'moral and religious.' Had the 

motion prevailed, the effect would have 1 n to encourage agitation in the 

form in which it would he most likely to he fatal to the South. It would have 
been a direct encouragement to the Ibolitionized clergy of the North to take 
the very course which was taken by the ' three thousand and fifty divinee 
who, in' 1854, sacrilegiously assumed, ' in the name of Almighty God, and in 

his presence,' to denounce the repeal of the Missouri Compromise as ■ a 
tion of plighted faith and a breach of a national compact.' Snbsequenl 
have abundantly attested the truth of what Mr. Calhoun -aid, when ar 



156 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

against the motion, 'that the whole spirit of the resolution hinged upon that 
word religious.' 

" The vote taken on Mr. Morris's amendment stood as follows : (Congres- 
sional Globe, volume 6, page 74.) 

"Yeas — Messrs. Bayard, Buchanan, Clayton, ! Davis, McKeon, Morris. 
Prentiss, Bobbins, Buggies, Smyth of Indiana, Southward, Swift. Tipton, and 
Webster— 14. 

" Nays — Messrs. Allen, Black, Brown, Calhoun, Clay of Alabama, Clay of 
Kentucky, Cuthbert, Fulton, Hubbard, King, Knight, Linn, Lumpkin, Lyon. 
Nicholas, Niles, Norvell, Pierce, Preston, Rives, Boane, Robinson, Sevier, 
Smyth of Connecticut, Strange, Walker, Wall, White, Williams, Wright, and 
Young — 31. 

"The fifth resolution to which Mr. Calhoun here referred, and which he 
justly regarded as the most important of all, and struggled most persever- 
ingly to have passed without amendment, was strictly as follows : 

" ' Besolved, That the intermeddling of any State or States, or their citizens, 
to abolish slavery in this District, or in any of the Territories, on the ground, 
or under the pretext, that it is immoral or sinful, or the passage of any act or 
measure of Congress, with that view, would be a direct and dangerous attack 
on the institutions of all the slaveholding States.' 

"This resolution covered the whole premises. It met the issue boldly and 
fully. No Southern Democrat can hesitate to say that it embodied a great 
truth, to which events have borne emphatic testimony. Mr. Clay, of Ken- 
tucky, moved to strike it out, and insert the following as a substitute: 

" 'Besolved, That when the District of Columbia was ceded by the States of 
Virginia and Maryland to the United States, domestic slavery existed in both 
of those States, including the ceded territory ; and that, as it still continues 
in both of them, it could not be abolished within the District without a viola- 
tion of that good faith which was implied in the cession, and in the acceptance 
of the territory, nor unless compensation were made for the slaves, without a 
manifest infringement of an amendment of the Constitution of the United States, 
nor without exciting a degree of just alarm and apprehension in the States 
recognizing slavery, far transcending, in mischievous tendency, any possible 
benefit which would be accomplished by the abolition.' (Congressional Globe, 
vol. 6, page 58.) 

" The utter insufficiency of this temporizing amendment scarcely need be 
pointed out. Objectionable as it was in conceding to Congress the constitu- 
tional power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and declaring 
against the exercise of that power only on the ground of inexpediency, it was 
still more so in this, that it made no reference whatever to the territories of 
the United States. The passage of Mr. Calhoun's resolution would have com- 
mitted the Senate, not only against the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia, but against the application of the Wilmot Proviso and kindred 
measures to the Territories. Mr. Clay's amendment was entirely silent on the 
subject. It is true, that in another resolution which he proposed to have 
adopted as an additional amendment, it was declared that the abolition of 
slavery in the Territory of Florida would be highly inexpedient, for the prin- 
cipal reason ' that it would be in violation of a solemn compromise made at a 
memorable and critical period in the history of this country, by which, while 
slavery was prohibited north, it was admitted south of the line of thirty-six 
degrees thirty minutes north latitude.' The defect in the first amendment 
oar hardly be considered by Southern men as remedied by another which 
recognized the binding force of the Missouri Compromise. 

"On the cmestion to strike out Mr. Calhoun's resolution, and insert Mr. 
Clay's as an amendment, after it had been modified by striking out the part 
relating to compensation for slaves, the vote stood — yeas 19, nays 18. (Con- 



WITH F0RKIGNI8M. 157 

gressional Globe, vol. 6, page <>"2.) Mr. Buchanan'* mints x/atuh- recorded in 
the affirmative. 

"On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Calhoun, with a view tu infuse vitality into 
Mr. Clav's amendment, moved to insert thai any attempt of Congre 
abolish slavery in the Territories, 'wonld 1"' a dangeroua attach upon the 
States in which slavery exists.' Mr. Buchanan opposed the amendment, an<l 
it was in reply to his Bpeeoh thai Mr. Calhoun made the remarks whioh maj 

be found in the third volume of bis works, pages l' 1 I to L96, and wliicb he 

oommenced by Baying that 'the remarks of the Senator from Pennsylvania 

were of BUoh a eharaeter that he could not permit them to |>a >S in silence.' 

" From these votes, and this language of Mr. Buchanan, it is clear: 

" 1st. That be was not opposed to the religious agitation "1 the slavery 
question — a species of agitation which Mr. Calhoun justly regarded as more 
fatal than any other. 

"Lid. That he recognized the constitutional power of Congress to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia, opposing its existence only 00 the ground 
of its inexpediency — a proposition which the position of Mr. Van liuren 
Bhows affords no reliable protection to Southern institutions. 

"3d. That lie refused to commit himself fully on the great question as to 
the power of Congress over the Territories of the [Jnited States, and as far as 
be did go, evidently left it to be understood that the abolition of slavery by 
Congress in those Territories would be 'no attack on the States in which it 
exists.' 

" If his opinions, in these respects, have undergone any material change, 
the country lias uot yet been authoritatively apprised of the fact. The i 
tions cast by him on the institution of slavery, in one of his speecbes in Eng- 
land, and the studied design he has manifested to keep aloof from the excite- 
ment growing out of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, are not well 
calculated to inspire confidence, that if his views bave undergone any change, 
it has been a change for the better." 

After thus disposing of the slavery issue, Mr. Irving thus turns 
to the Tariff Question : 

"So much for the slavery issue. How does Mr. Buchanan stand upon the 
tariff"? Will the Sentinel say that he is sound, or justify his 'low wages/ 
speech? How does he stand upon the French Spoliation bill, which President 
Polk and President Pierce vetoed ? Everybody knows that he was in favor 
of it. Iiow does he stand upon the Pacific Railroad ? He declared himself 
in favor of an appropriation of public money to build it, as is notorious. In 
fact, is there a single Federal measure except that of the United States Bank, 
upon which he is not recorded against Democratic principles! flow can we 
hope to carry the united South with such a record? Will Southern Democrats 
overlook this record? Will Northern Nebraska men overlook this ignoring of 
Pierce and Douglass? Is there no danger that in admitting the abolitionist 
Trumbull, we may not dishearten the gallant Douglass? Is there no fear that 
in reinstating the free-soil Hickman, who is in favor of Recder, we may not 
palsy the arm of Richardson? In fine, is there no fear that in hoping lor 
free-soil aid, we may not lose the few real friends the South has in the 
North ? It is evident to the commonest understanding, that the first step of 
Northern Black Republicanism is to kill off all those influential men at tin- 
North, like Pierce or Douglass, who have actively participated in the fight for 
our rights. Is not the South aiding them in this first step, when it not only 
ignores its own eons, but also ignores, upon the ground or availability, those 
Northern men identified with the late Kansas-Nebraska bill ? This is a ques- 
tion the South would do well to ponder. If Mr. Buchanan is to be nominated, 



158 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

and Pierce and Douglass in the North ignored, let the responsibility rest else- 
where than upon the State of Virginia. He may he, and probably is sound, 
but these are times when more than ordinary caution is necessary. It may 
become the duty of the South to support him. When that time arrives I can 
discharge the duty ; but I do think that the reasons above stated exempt me 
from any blame for not advocating him until that responsibility devolves 
upon me. 

Very respectfully, Chas. Irving. 

The Southern Dough-faces of the Foreign Catholic party pre- 
tend to hold Mr. Fillmore responsible for a letter he wrote more 
than twenty years ago, in which he answers certain interrogatories 
in reference to slavery, affirmatively, and in opposition to the ex- 
tension of slavery ! The latest record of Buchanan is in 1844, and 
proves him to be an ABOLITIONIST OF THE BLACKEST 
DYE. About the last speech he ever made in Congress, was IN 
OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY, in secret session of the Senate, 
just before Mr. Polk, in opposition to the wishes of Gen. Jackson, 
gave him a seat in his cabinet. This speech will be found in the 
Congressional Globe for 1844, an extract from which is in these 
explicit and memorable words : 

" In arriving at the conclusion to support this treaty, I had to encounter but 
one serious obstacle, and that was the question of slavery. Whilst I have 
ever maintained, and ever shall maintain, in their full force and vigor, the 
constitutional rights of the Southern States over their slave property, I yet 
feel a strong repugnance by any act of mine to extend the limits of the Union 
over a new slaveholding territory. After mature reflection, however, I over- 
came these scruples, and now believe that the acquisition of Texas will be the 
means of limiting, not enlarging, the dominion of slavery. 

"In the government of the 'world, Providence generally produces great 
changes by gradual means. There is nothing rash in the counsels of the 
Almighty. May not, then, the acquisition of Texas be the means of gradually 
drawing the slaves far to the South to a climate more congenial to their nature ; 
and may they not finally pass off into Mexico, and there mingle with a race 
where no prejudice exists against TnEiR color ? The Mexican nation is 
composed of Spaniards, Indians, and Negroes, blended together in every 
variety, who would receive our slaves on terms of perfect social equality. To 
this condition they never can be admitted in the United States. 

"That the acquisition of Texas would ere long convert Maryland, Virginia, 
Kentucky, Missouri, and probably others of the more Northern Slave States, 
into free States, I entertain not a doubt. ....... 

"But should Texas be annexed to the Union, causes will be brought into 
operation which must inevitably remove slavery from what may be called the 
farming States. From the best information, it is no longer profitable to raise 
wheat, rye, and corn, by slave labor. Where these articles are the only 
staples of agriculture, in the pointed and expressive language of Randolph, if 
the slave does not run away from his master, the master must run away from 
the slave. The slave will naturally be removed from such a country, where 
his labor is scarcely adequate to his own support, to a region where he can not 
only maintain himself, but yield large profits to his master. Texas will open 
an outlet ; and slavery itself may thus finally pass the Del Norte, and be lost 
in Mexico. One thing is certain, the present number of slaves cannot he in- 
creased by the annexation of Texas. 



WITH FORBIftNISM. 

"I have sever approhended the preponderance of the Blave States in the 

Qouncils of tin- nation. Such a fear baa alwaj b appeared to ritsionarj . Bu1 

those who entertain Mich apprehensions need ool be alarmed bj the acquisi 
tion of Texas. More than one-half of its territory is wholly unfit for the 
labor; and, therefore, in the nature of things must be tree. Mr. day. in hi 
Letter of the L7th of April last, on the subject of am that, 

according to his information — 

" ' The Territory <T Texas is susceptible of a >li\ ision into fi 1 1 if con 

venienl Bize and form. Of these, two only would be adapted to those peculiar 
institutions (slavery) to which I have referred; and the other three, lying 
west and north of San Antonio, being only adapted to farming and gra 
purposes, from the nature of their soil, climate, ami productions, would no) 
admit of these institutions. In the end, therefore, there would be two Blave 
and three free States probablj added to the Union.' 

"And here permit me to observe, that there is one defect in the treaty which 
ought to bo amended if we all did not , know that it is destined to be re,. 
The treaty itself Ought to determine how many free ami how many Blave 

States should he made out of this territory." 

On the 11th of April, 1826, .lames Buchanan, who is now being 
supported by Southern slaveholders, made a speech in Congress, 
eleven years after his Fourth of July oration, from which the fol- 
lowing is taken : 

'• Permit me here, Mr. Chairman, for a moment, to speak upon a subj 
which I have never before adverted upon this floor, and to which, I trust, ! 
mav never again have occasion to advert. 1 mean the subject of slavery. 1 
BELIEVE IT TO BE A GREAT POLITICAL AND A GREAT MORAL 
EVIL. I THANK COD, MV LOT HAS BEEN CAST IN A STAT1 

WIIEPK IT DOES NOT EXIST IT HAS BEEN A CI RSE 

ENTAILED UPON US BY THAT NATION WHICH MAKES iT • 
SUBJECT OF REPROACH TO OUR INSTITUTIONS/' (See Gal< 
Seaton's Register of Debates, page 2 ISO, vol. ii.. part 2.) 

MOKE BUCHANAN ANTECEDENTS. 

When a "Uniform Bankrupt Lair" was enacted by Cong 
after the election of General Harrison, there were <>n the files of 
the Judiciary Committee of the Senate fifty-om petitions, praying 
for the passage of such a law. Twenty-nine of these were from 
New York, five from New Jersey, three from Ohio, two from Indi- 
ana, two from Massachusetts, and one from each <>f the States of 
Tennessee and Mississippi. There were twenty-five other petitions 
praying for "vL General Bankrupt Law :" fifteen of which were 
from New York, and eight from Pennsylvania : and how will the 
Democracy like to sec it hereafter proven that BUCHANAN pre- 
sented these petitions, and voted for the law? If it shall turn on; 
that "Old Buck" did really go for the "odious Bankrupt Law." let 
his friends defend him on the ground that his State desired it. am' 
had always favored the measure ! 

In thellouse of Representatives, in Congress, January 3, 1815, 
Mr. IngersolL a notorious Democrat from Pennsylvania, and a 



160 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Boy Tory of the war of the Revolution, from the Committee on the 
Judiciary, reported a bill to establish a uniform law of Bankruptcy 
throughout the United States! If these facts should not turn out 
to be a sufficient justification of Mr. Buchanan s course, provided 
he went for this Bankrupt Law, let his friends present these facts, 
and show that he was in good old Federal Democratic company : 

NUMBER 1. On the 5th of September, 1837, Mr. Van Buren's 
Democratic Secretary of the Treasury made a report to Congress, 
praying the passage of a uniform Bankrupt Law, which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

NUMBER 2. On the 13th day of January, 1840, Mr. Norvell, 
a 'Democratic Senator from Michigan, moved that the Judiciary be 
instructed to inquire into the expediency of reporting a bill for the 
establishment of a General Bankrupt Law. 

NUMBER 3. On the 22d of April, 1840, Garret B. Wall, a 
flaming Democratic Senator in Congress, reported certain amend- 
ments to a Bankrupt Law, from a minority of the Committee ; 
which were referred to the Senate's select Committee, and reported 
by Mr. Wall, and passed — 21 to 19 — and sent to the House. 

NUMBER 4. In the Senate, July 23, 1841, Mr. Nicholson, a 
Democratic Senator from Tennessee, delivered an able speech in 
favor of a uniform system of Bankruptcy, and moved to amend the 
bill then pending, by inserting " BANKS AND OTHER COR- 
PORATIONS ;" which motion was lost by a vote of 34 to 16. 

NUMBER 5. That great light of Democracy, Col. Richard M. 
Johnson, late Vice-President of the United States, wrote and 
spoke in favor of a General Bankrupt Law. In a letter of his, now 
before us, dated Washington, January 18, 1841, he says, speaking of 
such a law: "My opinion is that it will redound to the honor of 
our country." 

But we will do Mr. Buchanan justice, by stating that he said he 
would vote against the Bankrupt Law of 1840, because he did not 
like its features. When Mr. Webster spoke in favor of the law, 
and of the character of the petitioners, many of whom presented 
their petitions through Mr. Buchanan, the latter spoke on the 24th 
of February, 1840 ; and, to satisfy Mr. Webster and others that 
he was not opposed *to the principle in former days, stated, "He 
came to the other House of Congress, many years since, A 
FRIEND OF A BANKRUPT LAW. The subject was before 
the House when he entered the body twenty years ago." He 
added, " He was open to conviction, and might change his pur- 
pose !" 

Thus, it will be seen that Mr. Buchanan, in this, as in every 
thing else, was on both sides ! And how does it look in a Presi- 
dential candidate, to have supported a General Bankrupt Law for 



WITH FOREIGNISM. 101 

the relief of rich, extravagant, and aristocratic gentlemen, and 
then to turn round and advocate "ten cents per day" for poor 
folks and laboring men ? It will look rather bad; but, then, Bag 
Nicht Democracy can go any thing! This old "ten cents per 
day" champion of Democracy advocated, in so many words, the 
reduction of all paper money prices to the real Cuba standard of 
solid money! We take extracts from his speech, which will be 
found in the Appendix to the Congressional Globe, page 185: 

"In Germany, where the ourrenoy is purely metallic, and the cost of every 
thing is REDUCED to a hard money Btandard, a piece of broadcloth can be 
manufactured for fifty dollars; the manufacture of which in our country, from 

the expansion of piper currency, would cost one hundred dollars. What is the 
(•Hi)sc([uence? The foreign French and German manufactarer Imports this 

cloth into our country, and Bells it for a hundred. Does not every person per- 
ceive that the redundancy of our currency is equal to a premium of. one hun- 
dred per cent, in favor id' the manufacturer?" 

•• wo tariff of protection, anless it amounted to prohibition, could counteract 

this advantage in favor of foreign manufactures. I would to heaven that I 
could arouse the attention of every manufacturer of the nation to this import- 
ant subject." 

" What is the reason that, with all these advantages, and with the protective 
duties which our laws afford to the domestic manufacturer of cotton, we can- 
not obtain exclusive possession of the home market, and successfully contend 
for the markets of the world? It is simply because we manufacture at the 
nominal prices of our inflated currency, and arc compelled to sell at the real 
prices of other oations. REDUCE OUR NOMINAL STANDARD OF 
PRICES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, and you cover our country with 
blessings and benefits. " 

******* 

"The comparative LOW PRICES of France and Germany have afforded 
such a stimulus to their manufactures, that they are now rapidly extending 
themselves, and would obtain possession, in no small degree, even of the Eng- 
lish home market, IF IT WERE NOT FOR THEIR PROTECTING DUTIES. 
While British manufactures are now languishing, those of the continent arc 
springing into a healthy and vigorous existence." 

How will the Free Trade Democracy of the South relish these 
"protecting duties" of an old Federal politician? They are about 
as consistent in their support of the Cincinnati nominee as " Clay 
Whigs" are, when they know that Buchanan was the only man 
living who had it in his power to do Clay justice, in reference to 
the "bargain and intrigue" calumny, and obstinately refused! 

CLAY AND BUCHANAN. 

In 1825, Mr. Buchanan, then a member of the Ilouse, entered 
the room of Mr. Clay, who was at the time in company with his 
only messmate, Hon. R. P. Letcher, also a member of the llnu.se, 
and since Governor of Kentucky. Buchanan introduced the sub- 
ject of the approaching Presidential election, Letcher witnessing 
11 



162 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

what was said ; and after that, when Mr. Clay was hotly assailed 
with the charge of "bargain, intrigue, and corruption," notified 
Mr. Buchanan of his intention to publish the conversation, but was 
induced, by the earnest entreaties of Buchanan, to forbear. And 
Mr. Clay died with a letter in his possession, from Buchanan, 
which, if published, as it should be, would place Buchanan without 
the pale of Democracy, and disgrace him in the eyes of all honor- 
able men. That letter, too, would explain why Gen. Jackson had 
no confidence in him, and was opposed to his taking a seat in 
Polk's cabinet. Let it come ! 

Keep it before the People, That it was the vote of James Buch- 
anan which, in the Senate, in 1832, secured the passage of the 
"Black Tariff," so offensive to the "Free Trade" Democracy of 
Tennessee, South Carolina, and other Southern States, and which 
Gov. JONES threw up to Col. Polk with so much effect in their 
race of 1843 ! 

Keep it before the People, That the Cincinnati Platform un- 
blushingly affirms that "the Constitution does not confer upon the 
Federal government authority to assume the debts of the several 
States, contracted for local internal improvements, or for other 
State purposes;" while the Democratic members of Congress 
annually violate this principle by voting away hundreds of acres of 
public lands to the States, for purposes of railroads and other im- 
provements. 

Keep it before the People, That the same Platform hypocritically 
asserts, that " it is the duty of every branch of our Government to 
enforce and practice the most rigid economy in conducting our 
public affairs;" when the expenditures of Pierce's administra- 
tion are TWENTY MILLIONS PER ANNUM over that of 
MILLARD FILLMORE ! 

Keep it before the People, That the 8th of the series in this 
Platform declares, that "the attempt to abridge the privilege of 
becoming citizens and owners of soil amongst us ought to be 
resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition 
laws from our statute book :" and then the hypocritical builders of 
the platform turned about and nominated James Buchanan, who 
commenced public life as. the advocate of the " alien and sedition 
laws," and sustained, in and out of Congress, the Federal party, 
who passed these laws. 

Keep it before the People, That the Cincinnati Platform, which 
prates so loudly about the privilege of becoming " owners of the 
soil " and which rebukes all efforts to amend our naturalization 
laws as oppressive to foreigners, nominated a man for the Presi- 
dency who spoke publicly in this language : "Above all, we ought 



WITH FOREKWIRM. M I 

to drive from our shores foreign influence, which has been in every 
age the curse of republics !" 

Keep it before the People, That this Cincinnati Platform pled 
itself to the "Acts known as the Compromise Measures," and the, 
resolves "to resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress or out of 
it, the agitation of slavery ;" while the second best nags before the 
Convention were Douglass and Pierce, who brought forward tin 
bill repealing the Missouri Compromise line, and opening up anen 
the slavery agitation, while Pierce signed the bill and adopted it a^ 
an Administration measure ! 

Keep it before the People, That this same Platform asserts, ae 
an indispensable article of the Democratic faith, that "the proi 
of the public lands ought to be sacredly applied to the national 
objects specified in the Constitution;" and yet a majority of the 
Democracy, in one branch of Congress, unhesitatingly voted for a 
bill introduced by Robert M. T. Hunter, a leader of "the most 
straitest sect" of Democratic Pharisees, which proposed to give 
away the wdiole body of the public lands to squatters, at the nomi- 
nal price of ninepence an acre, and at five years' credit ! 

Keep it before the People, That this same platform deprecatt 
policy which legislates for the few 7 at the expense of the many ; yet 
its builders nominated a man for the Presidency who has avowed 
himself on the floor of the Senate in favor of reducing the wages of 
poor white men to the Cuban standard of TEN CENTS per day ! 

Keep it before the People, That this Cincinnati Platform utterly 
fails to come up to that high Southern standard, which the countrv 
looked for from a party so lavish of promises, and that it has 
deliberately and completely shirked the slavery issue, the only 
apology for which is found in their having nominated an old anti- 
slavery Federalist. 

Keep it before the People, That James Buchanan was opposed 
to the war of 1812, but is in favor of the next war — while a Feder- 
alist he was conservative in his views, but is now square upon a 
Filibustering Platform — his nomination, an overture to the Sumner 
Wing of Democracy, is the very nomination for the Nullifiers, Fire- 
eaters, and Disunionists of the South — that while we cry North, 
shout South, every faction is united. 



164 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



THE CINCINNATI VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. 

John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, is now the Democratic can- 
didate for the Vice Presidency ; and in our devotion to the head of 
the ticket, we do not wish to neglect the tail. Mr. Breckenridge 
is a good speaker, and is about as good a Selection as his party could 
make. He has not been long enough in public life to attain any 
experience as a statesman, nor has he been guilty of any great in- 
discretion in his short Congressional career. He will be unable to 
carry Kentucky for his party, though he has some elements of 
strength. Standing out in violent opposition to his relatives upon 
the Know Nothing issues, he will be acceptable to all Foreigners, 
and the Catholics in particular ! Being on the very best of terms 
with Cassius M. Clay, and voting with the Emancipationists of 
Kentucky, he will be rather acceptable to the Anti-Slavery men 
than otherwise ! He was a zealous supporter of the bill in Con- 
gress appropriating a million or two dollars to works of Internal 
Improvement, which was vetoed by Pierce. That bill provided 
$50,000 for the improvement of the Kentucky River, to which he 
urged an amendment insisting on $150,000. This will give him 
strength with the Democracy of the North and North-West, who 
advocated the doctrine of Internal Improvements by the General 
Government ! 

On May 20th, 1856, the Charleston Mercury came out advising 
the South as to the selection of candidates, which advice, if adhered 
to, would prove ruinous alike to Buchanan and Breckenridge. A 
brief extract from that article is in these words : 

"A man unsound on Slavery, Free Trade, and Internal Improvements, or 
whose opinions are shrouded in treacherous ambiguity — such a man, be he 
Black Republican or Democrat, is unworthy of her support. To vote for 
either, is to give away her influence, to be used against her. It is to stultify 
principle, and be the instrument of her own undoing." 

This doctrine would get very much in the way of such men as 
Toombs and Stephens, of Georgia, and other Anti-Internal Improve- 
ment Democrats, but they can excuse Breckenridge on the ground 
that he acquiesced in the veto of Pierce, and was possibly only try- 
ing to make a little capital at home, which is common with Democ- 
racy. Besides, Mr. Breckenridge being raised a Clay WJiig, and 
representing the Ashland District as a Democrat, should be allowed 
to pass over the Jordan of Democracy by degrees ! 

His name can be used advantageously in this contest in another 



WITH FORKIGNISM. 166 

respect. While Mr. Buchanan was Mr. Clay's most vindictive 
enemy, traducer, and calumniator, Mr. Breckenridge can be hold 
up to the Clay Whigs, as having announced to the House of Repre- 
sentatives the death of Mr. Clay, in language and sentimental 

branding Buchanan as a malignant slanderer, -without mentioning 
his name, by the character he gave to Clay ! Closing his eulogy 
upon Mr. Clay in these words, Mr. Brccikcnridge evidently looked 
with the eye of prophecy at the slanders of Buchanan, the recollec- 
tion of which would "cluster" around his grave: — 

"Every memorial of such a man will possess a meaning and value to his 
countrymen. His tomb will be a hallowed spot. Qreat memories will cluster 
there, and his countrymen as they visit it may well exclaim : 

" Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines — 
Shrines to no creed or code confined ; 
The Delphian vales, the Palestines, 
The Meccas of the mind." 

If we mistake not, this young Breckenridge is the nephew of 
the Rev. John Breckenridge, formerly of Baltimore, and pastor of 
the Presbyterian Church. If so, he is the nephew of the Kev. 
Robert Breckenridge, the talented and staunch advocate of the 
American party. The venerable uncle of this young man, whilst 
pastor of the Church in Baltimore, was a most formidable opponent 
of the Roman Catholic religion, and is the man who conducted the 
debate with Archbishop Hughes, in 1836, which we now have 
before us, in a largo volume of 550 pages. Of course Bishop 
Hughes will require the young man to repudiate his uncle's views 
and charges in opposition to the Papal religion ; and this, we should 
think, he will do for the sake of the Catholic vote in America ! 



From the Knoxvillo Whig of Juno 14, 1856. 

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRACY — ITS LEGITIMATE 
FRUITS. 

Tub following important document we take from the National 
Intelligencer, of January 22, 1851. It was signed and published 
by gentlemen irrespective of parties — forty-four Senators and 
Representatives in Congress. It will be a curiosity to those of our 
readers who may have forgotten its well-timed and patriotic pledges. 
How unfortunate it has been for the country, and especially the 



166 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

public tranquillity, that the determination and counsels of these 
men were, in an evil hour, departed from, and flagrantly violated 
by the demagogues of the self-styled Democratic party ! To the 
violation of this solemn pledge by the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise line, and the reopening of the Slavery agitation by the 
introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, intended to elevate that 
miserable little demagogue, Stephen A. Douglass, to the Presidency, 
we are indebted for all the scenes of bloodshed in Kansas, to the 
angry slavery discussions in Congress, and the disgraceful scenes 
of riot being almost daily enacted there ! 

Several copies of the following Declaration were circulated in 
Congress, and obtained a number of signatures in both halls ; but 
no other list was ever published, that we know of, besides this, 
which, it will be seen, was headed by the illustrious Henry Clay : 

" The undersigned, members of the thirty-first Congress of the United States, 
believing that a renewal of sectional controversy upon the subject of slavery 
would be both dangerous to the Union and destructive of its objects ; and see- 
ing no mode by which such controversy can be avoided, except by a strict ad- 
herence to the settlement thereof effected by the Compromise Acts passed at 
the last session of Congress, do hereby declare their intention to maintain the 
said settlement inviolate, and to resist all attempts to repeal or alter the acts 
aforesaid, unless by the general consent of the friends of the measure, and to 
remedy such evils, if any, as time and experience may develop. And, for the 
purpose of making this resolution effective, they further declare that they will 
not support for the office of President, Vice-President, Senator, or Representa- 
tive in Congress, or as a member of a State Legislature, any man, of whatever 
party, who is not known to be opposed to the disturbance of the settlement 
aforesaid, and to the renewal, in any form, of agitation upon the subject of 
slavery. 

" Henry Clay, Howell Cobb, 

C. S. Morehead, H. S. Foote, 

Robt. L. Rose, Wm, Duer, 

W. C. Dawson, Jas. Brooks, 

Thos. J. Rusk, A. II. Stephens, 

Jere. Clemens, R. Toombs, 

James Cooper, M. P. Gentry, 

Thos. C. Pratt, H. W. Hilliard, 

Wm. M. Gwih, F. E. McLean, 

Samuel A. Elliot, A. G. Watkins, 

David Outlaw, H. A. Bullard, 

C. H. Williams, T. S. Haywood, 
J. Philips Phcenix, A. H. Shephard, 
A. M. Schemerhorn, Daniel Breck, 
Jno. R. Thurman, Jas. L. Johnson, 

D. A. Bokee, J. B. Thompson, 
Geo. R. Andrews, J. M. Anderson, 
W. P. Mangum, John B. Kerr, 
Jeremiah Morton, J. P. Caldwell, 
R. I. Bowie, Ed. Deberry, 

E. C. Cabell, II. Marshall, 
Alex. Evans, Allen F. Owen." 



WITH FORKIGNISM. W7 

The rowdyism and treachery of Democracy never intended bo 
abide by this pledge— and hence their "disturbance of the settle- 
ment aforesaid," by opening an anew this villainous "agitation 
upon the subject of slavery." This violation of a solemn pledge 
has introduced into Kansas civil war, caused bloodshed, the shoot- 
ing down of men in cold blood, and overrun that country with con- 
tending parties, called "Friends of Freedom'' and "Border Ruf- 
fians" armed with Sharpe's rifles, Colt's revivors, bowie-knives, 
and clubs, mixed with Bibles ! 

All this really affords an illustration of the domineering insolence 
of Democratic Abolitionism — an element in our Federal Govern- 
ment which will stop at no extremity of violence, in order ro sub- 
due the people of the Slave States, and force them into a miserable 
subservience to its fanatical dominion. And it is worthy of note, 
that the shooting of Sheriff Jones and others in Kansas, occurred 
immediately after the arrival of the Neiv Haven Emu/rant Rijle 
Company! This, too, calls to mind forcibly the very delectable 
conversational speechifying that took place at the New llaycn Rifle 
Meeting, among the pious villains who figured most conspicuously. 
As it is short, we give it entire : 

Rev. Mr. Dutton (pastor of the church.)— One of the deacons of than 

church, Mr. Harvey Hall, is going out with the company to Kansas, and I, as 
his pastor, desire to present him a Bible and a Sharpe's rifle. (Great 

applause.) 

E. P. Pie. — I will give one. 

Stephen D. Pardee. — I will give one for myself, and also another one for 
my wife. 

Mr. Beechcr.— I like to see that — it is a hold stroke both right and left. 
(Great laughter.) 

Charles Ives. — Put me down for three. 

Thomas R. Trowbridge. — Put me down for four. (Continued laughter.) 

Dr. J. I. Howe. — I will subscribe for one. 

A gentleman said that Miss Mary Dutton would give one. 

Dr. Stephen G. Hubbard.— One. 

Mr. Beechcr here stated that if twenty-five could be raised on tl 
would pledge twenty-five more from the church at Plymouth— fifty b. 
sufficient number for the whole supply. (Clapping of hands all over the 
house.) 

Prof. Silliman now left Mr. Beecher to speak for the bid. and sat down to 
enjoy the occasion. 

Mr. Killem. — I give one. 

Mr. Beecher.— Kilhm— That's a significant name in connection with n 
Sharpe's rifle. (Laughter.) 

After this, this clerical vagabond, Beecher, blessed the weapons, 
and encouraged the party to go forth and u do or die " in the sub- 
lime " cause of nigger freedom !" In all human probability, sweet 
Mary Dutton's rifle may have sped the ball that pierced the side of 
Sheriff Jones, the officer of the law, while in the honest discharge 



168 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

of a sworn duty ! Subsequent murders, where pro-slavery men 
were shot down with these rifles, we attribute to the omen that 
Beecher found in his name "JEittern" — it is a significant name in 
connection with Sharpe's rifle. The real assassins shoot down their 
men, and with their rifles and Bibles flee ; but she who unfrocked 
herself by furnishing a rifle, and he who gave and blessed the 
weapon of death, are here to accept the thanks of their admirers 
and partisans. Let sweet Mary and her beloved pastor be crowned 
with wreaths of deadly night-shade, and consigned to one cell in 
Sing Sing prison ! 

But the success of Ruffianism in Kansas, in the hands of those 
vile Abolition Democrats, has emboldened members of the same 
party to introduce it in the Federal Capital. But the other day, 
Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, made, in his place in the U. S. 
Senate, one of the most incendiary and inflammatory speeches ever 
uttered on the floor of either House of Congress ! The vocabulary 
of Billingsgate was exhausted in denouncing all who dared to jus- 
tify the institution of slavery — using, over and over again, such 
terms as " hireling, picked from the drunken spew of an uneasy 
civilization in the form of men," &c. The language made use of 
was disgraceful to the vile Abolitionist himself, and to the Senate, 
of which he never ought to have been a member. There was no 
limit to the personal abuse in which the villainous Senator indulged, 
no restraint to the vile epithets coined in his insane head ; and the 
very natural consequence was, a personal chastisement of Mr. 
Sumner, in the Senate chamber, by Mr. Brooks, a Representative 
from South Carolina, and a relative of Judge Butler, the gentle- 
man abused in his absence, which, for its severity, never was 
equalled in Washington. Mr. Sumner was the aggressor, because 
he poured out the vials of his wrath upon not only Judge Butler, a 
distinguished Senator, but upon the whole State of South Carolina. 

We do not justify the selection of a time and place by Mr. 
Brooks, for punishing this Massachusetts Abolitionist ; but we 
should despise the son of South Carolina who could hear his native 
State arraigned in such temper and language, without feeling in- 
tensely, and manifesting that feeling at a proper time and place. 
Indeed, it would be strange if a South Carolinian did not resent the 
arrogant, insulting, and contemptuous tone which Mr. Sumner saw 
fit to indulge in towards South Carolina in general, and her Sena- 
tor in particular ! We know Judge Butler — we have seen him on 
the Bench, in the discharge of the duties of a Circuit-Judge — we 
have seen and heard him in the Senate Chamber, where he has 
served for years, with credit to himself and honor to his State. He 
is an accomplished man, and a most amiable and honorable gentle- 
man. His character is unblemished ; he stands deservedly high ; 



WITH FOREIiiNlsM. 169 

he is a gentleman of urbane and courteous demeanor, and is be- 
loved, esteemed, and respected, by all gentlemen who know him or 
associate with him. Besides, lie is an <>ld man, gray-haired, and 
palsied; and, whether present or absent, deserved to be treated a-. 
a gentleman. 

Northern men may not expect to vilify the South in this way, 
"without having to atone for it. Men who profess fco belong to the 
peace party, ought not to employ language that will provoke a 
fi<xht, and then shield themselves behind their non-resistant defei 

o — * 

They voluntarily put themselves upon the platform of resistance — 
they pass insults, and they must submit to the consequences. We 
have just finished the perusal of a case in iEsop.'s Fables, exactly 
in point. It is the case of a trumpeter taken prisoner in battle. 
He claimed exemption from the common fate of prisoners of war, 
in ancient times, on the ground that he carried no weapons, and 
was, in fact, a non-combatant, belonging to the peace party ! 
"Non-combatant, the Devil!" exclaimed the opposing party, 
pointing to his trumpet, as preparations were being made to put 
him to death, " Why, Sir, you hold in your hands the very instru- 
ment which incites our foes to tenfold furies against us !" 

But this fight between the parties has to come, and it should be- 
gin at Washington, and if not in the halls of Congress, at least in 
the streets of the Federal city. Let the battle be fought there, and 
not in Kansas, and let it fall upon the villainous agitators of the 
Slavery question, and the Democratic disturbers of the Compro- 
mises of the Constitution. Let it come now, that it may be fought 
out and settled, and not left to posterity, to curse and crush the 
rising generation ! 

Mr. Brooks is a Democrat, and an anti-Know Nothing. Mr. 
Sumner is a Democrat — was elected by the votes of the Democrats, 
over that noble and dignified Whig, Mr. Winthrop, and his election 
was hailed throughout the Union as a Democratic triumph ! 

Massachusetts, irrespective of parties, seems to have taken great 
offence at this occurrence, and to have held indignation meetings, 
and was to have had Legislative action upon the subject. AN C 
tell Massachusetts that she is alone to blame, for sending such a 
man to the United States Senate. There was a great debate in 
the Senate twenty-five years ago, in which Daniel Webster and 
Gov. Hayne met each other and grappled like giants, as they were. 
The State of South Carolina, in that day, though represented by 
an able, patriotic, and great man, came off second best. The Sena- 
tor from Massachusetts, of that day, was an able statesman, a 
Constitutional lawyer of unsurpassed abilities, and, withal, a cau- 
tious gentleman, and rose above the low blackguardism of a Sumner 
and a Wilson. When taunted by the Senator from South Caro- 



170 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

lina with Federalism, and opposition to some of the features of the 
War of 1812, the great Webster presented Massachusetts before the 
Senate and the Union, in such a manner that men of all sections 
bowed down and worshipped her. Standing erect with the flash of his 
eagle eye, he exclaimed, " There is Boston, and Concord, and Lex- 
ington, and Bunker Hill" — let them testify to the loyalty of Massa- 
chusetts to this glorious Union ! Not only did Mr. Webster come 
out of that controversy with South Carolina with the admiration 
of every man in the country, but with the respect and admiration 
of Calhoun, Hayne, McDuffie, and all the high-toned statesmen of 
the South. And why ? Because he was not a Sumner, a Wilson, 
or an Abolition Blackguard. Times have changed — a different 
man takes the place of a Webster, with only the memory of an in- 
sulting speech and a broken head ! Let Massachusetts send men 
to the United States Senate who can and will demean themselves 
like gentlemen, and gentlemen from the South will appreciate 
them, while they differ honestly with them on great questions. 

What wonderful progress Democracy is making in the country ! 
First, Democracy quarrelled and jowered over the election of a 
Speaker two months, and finally, by the introduction of the Plu- 
rality Rule, caused Banks, a Black Republican, to be elected. 
And as if determined to atone for this wear of time and money, 
they have brought about a series of fights, which, before they are 
disposed of, will cost the government half a million of dollars ! 

First then, William Smith, an ex-Governor of the State of Vir- 
ginia, and member of the House of Representatives, assailed and 
beat the editor of the Evening Star, in December last, in the 
street. 

Second, Albert Rusk, a member of the House of Representatives 
from Arkansas, assailed and beat the editor of the New York Tri- 
bune in the grounds of the capitol, immediately after leaving the 
House of Representatives. 

Third, Philip T. Herbert, of Alabama, a member of Congress 
from California, shot down and killed an Irish Catholic waiter at 
Willard's, and is now under bonds to appear before the Court and 
await his trial for such crime as they may adjudge him to have 
committed. 

Fourth, Preston S. Brooks, a member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives from South Carolina, assails and beats unmercifully a 
Senator from Massachusetts, when occupying his seat in the 
Senate of the United States. 

Fifth, Mr. Bright knocked down the door-keeper, for an incon- 
siderable offence. Here, then, we have five breaches of the peace 
in five months, by Democrats upon Democrats, although the 
"Boston Pilot," a Catholic organ, falsely charges that some of the 



WITH Fi'UKhi.NISM. 171 

parties making these assaults arc '• Know Nothings." We congra- 
tulate the Democratic party upon the progress of its leading mem- 
bers ! They are sinking by swift deeoeat into barbarism, and 
bringing the country to rain. Ami in keeping with all this, they 

have tried to nominate for the Vice-Presidency a man who openly 
proposed in Congress the repeal of our neutrality laws, so as to 
bring a general fight ! 

It will not do to say that Sumner is not of the Democratic 
party, because he is a regular-built Frcc-Soiler and Black Republi- 
can: the Washington Union settled this point in 1852, when it 
uttered these memorable words : 

" The Free-soil Democratic leaders of the North arc a regular portion of the 
Democratic party, and General Pierce, if elected, will make no distinction 
between them and the rest of the Democracy in the distribution <>(' i 
patronage, and in the selection of agents for administering the government." 

The rules of the Senate forbid personalities in debate, and it 
was the sworn duty of its Locofoco President, Mr. Bright, to have 
called Mr. Sumner to order for his abuse of Judge Butler. But as 
far back as thirty years ago, under the auspices of John C. Cal- 
houn as presiding officer, a decision was made to the effect that 
the presiding officer of the Senate was neither bound nor had he 
the power to call Senators to order ! That power, according to his 
decision, belonged wholly to the Senate itself— thus delivering 
over the minority of that body to " the tender mercies" of the 
majority! The object of Mr. Calhoun at the time was to play 
into the hands of a combination which had been formed to break 
down the Administration of John Quincy Adams, and to cripple 
Henry Clay. The instrument used was the sarcastic, irritating, 
and personal rhetoric of John Randolph, then a member of the 
Senate. To this end, Randolph was suffered to deliver in the 
Senate a long succession of tirades, disgraceful to the Senate, abus- 
ive of New England and of Henry Clay. Here is a specimen of 
Randolph's abuse, which led to a duel between him and Mr. Clay : 

"This man, (mankind, I crave pardon,) this worm, (little animal.-, fo] 
the insult,) was raised to a higher life than he was hum to, for lie was raised 
to the society of blackguards. Some fortune— kind to him, cruel to UB— bas 
tossed him to the Secretarvship of State. Contempt has the property of de- 
scending, but stops far short of him. She would die before she would reach 
him: he dwells below her fall. I would hate him, if I did not despise him. 
It is not what he is, but where he is, that puts my thoughts into action. 
The alphabet which writes the name of Thersites, blackguard, Bqualidity, re- 
fuses her letters for him. That mind which think- on what it cannot express, 
can scarcely think on him. An hyperbole for Meanness would be an ellipsis 
for Clay." 

This was pleasing to Mr. Calhoun and the dominant party in the 
Senate, and his decision which tolerated it never was questioned 



172 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

by any authoritative precedent, until Millard Fillmore was 
elected Vice-President. With characteristic independence, he de- 
termined that a precedent so unreasonable and absurd should not be 
binding on him as the presiding officer of the Senate. He therefore, 
on assuming the duties of his office, delivered an address to the 
Senate, in which he informed that body that he considered it his 
sworn duty to preserve decorum, and would reverse the rule which 
had so long prevailed, that Senators were not to be called to order 
for words spoken in debate ! The Senate ordered this address to 
be entered at large on their journals, as an evidence of their en- 
dorsement of its doctrines ; and there it is now, recorded evidence 
of the patriotism, high sense of decorum, and senatorial dignity of 
that great and good man, Millard Fillmore. 



WITH FOKEIUNISM. 173 



STRENGTH OF TARTIES IN TENNESSEE. 



OFFICIAL VOTES OF THE STATE. 

The following tables exhibit the official vote of Tennessee for 
President in 1852, for Governor in 1853, and for Governor in 
1855, as compared at the capital of the State, and will be valuable 
as a table for reference. In the last contest, when the Know 
Nothing issues were fully made, causing all the latent blackguard- 
ism in the Democratic ranks to be fully develojyed, it will be seen 
that Andrew Johnson received 67,499 votes, and Meredith P. 
Gentry 65,342, leaving Johnson a majority of 2,157, a falling off 
of 104 votes from his majority over Maj. Henry two years before 
that. It will also be perceived that the vote of the State at this 
last election is an increase of 8,260 over the vote two years pre- 
vious. Of this increase, Col. Gentry gets 4,182, his vote exceed- 
ing Maj. Henry's by that much, while Johnson's increase upon 
his own vote two years previous was 4,078. 

It is a moderate calculation to say that Johnson received at least 
two thousand foreign and illegal votes ; while we are within bounds 
when we say that at least 5,000 old-line Whigs refused to vote for 
Col. Gentry — demonstrating beyond all doubt that a majority of 
the legal voters of the State were opposed to Johnson and his 
party. 

In the contest now being waged, Fillmore and Donelson will 
carry the State by a majority ranging from three to five thousand 
votes, despite the low Billingsgate slang and vile blackguardism 
that may be heaped upon them and their supporters. And as this 
calculation is made in June, five months in advance of the election, 
we must ask those into whose hands this work shall fall without 
the limits of Tennessee, to bear it in mind, and when they get the 
returns in November, to give us credit for our sagacity or our 
want of sagacity ! 

The contest will be fierce and bitter, exceeding any former poli- 
tical battle witnessed in the State. If the orators and editors of 



174 



AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



the self-styled Democratic party have not greatly reformed in the 
space of one year, but little argument will be adduced, but little 
gentlemanly courtesy manifested ; and instead of facts, figures and 
arguments, bitter invective, low blackguardism, and Billingsgate 
abuse of secret organizations, dark lanterns, and Protestant clergy- 
men, will be the order of the day. In this congenial work, all the 
conglomeration of ignorant men, foreign paupers, and fag-ends and 
factions, styling themselves Democrats, will engage ! 
But to the official vote of the State : 



Popular Vote of Tennessee-*— Official. 



EAST TENNESSEE. 

1852. 1853. 



1855. 



o 
Counties. so 

Anderson 602 

Bledsoe 464 

Blount 827 

Bradley 547 

Campbell 313 

Carter 585 

Claiborne 503 

Cocke 743 

Grainger 852 

Greene 780 

Hawkins 778 

Hamilton 774 

Hancock 241 

Jefferson 1168 

Johnson 365 

Knox 1863 

McMinu 796 

Meigs 141 

Marion 453 

Monroe 805 

Morgan 240 

Polk 272 

Rhea 300 

Roane 820 

Sevier 621 

Scott 199 

Sullivan 260 

Washington 565 



o 
u 

S 


a 


a 

o 
a 
o 


a 

<5 


a 
o 

a 

o 


267 


648 


379 


772 


333 


209 


469 


303 


404 


361 


566 


1146 


734 


1069 


789 


778 


562 


1085 


644 


1021 


251 


356 


445 


507 


383 


139 


721 


294 


768 


238 


519 


620 


707 


756 


744 


196 


867 


383 


929 


422 


477 


998 


767 


1327 


621 


1301 


902 


1915 


989 


1985 


831 


805 


1180 


887 


1158 


648 


786 


972 


966 


1044 


336 


221 


532 


264 


589 


307 


1396 


639 


1697 


444 


93 


392 


184 


400 


215 


565 


2279 


770 


2560 


695 


866 


799 


965 


909 


953 


442 


118 


561 


97 


588 


292 


476 


357 


554 


468 


847 


739 


900 


851 


1005 


222 


229 


260 


219 


358 


470 


249 


527 


385 


676 


307 


270 


358 


298 


415 


678 


912 


755 


1002 


769 


80 


824 


133 


964 


120 


127 


186 


182 


121 


259 


1114 


361 


1407 


601 


1403 


853 


967 


1069 


847 


1338 




19,298 


18,763 


21,787 


19,394 



WITH FOKKIONISM. 



175 



Counties. £ £ 

MIDDLE TENNESSEE 

Bedford 1390 L356 

Canuon 453 727 

Coffee 205 722 

Davidson 2017 2058 

De Kalb 559 588 

Dickson 323 G07 

Fentress 153 411 

Franklin 330 1133 

Giles 1303 1447 

Grundy 44 327 

Hardin 043 808 

Hickman 241 839 

Humphreys 263 471 

Jackson 1170 803 

Lawrence 547 583 

Lewis 43 186 

Lincoln 006 2207 

Maury 1324 1799 

Montgomery 1260 993 

Marshall 666 13 10 

Macon 617 374 

Overton 345 1039 

Robertson 1013 769 

Rutherford 1495 1313 

Smith 1742 520 

Stewart 533 725 

Sumner 825 1563 

Van Buren 107 165 

Warren 344 922 

Wayne 666 380 

White 949 518 

Williamson 1583 763 

Wilson 2248 923 



L359 


L257 


L630 


1203 


■1 15 


su:; 


15 




27 1 


S21 


294 


880 


25'. 17 


1963 


3132 


r- 


632 


610 


560 


738 


357 


74;; 




745 


166 


51 1 1 


129 


616 


356 


L224 


394 


1302 


1301 


1 His 


1312 


1439 


58 


37 1 


22 


425 


671 


827 


745 


775 


263 


812 


223 


1053 


34] 


5111 


354 


543 


1154 


995 


1122 


1131 


523 


731 


524 


845 


66 


L82 


34 


243 


617 


2322 


402 


252 1 


L238 


1731 


1411 


1793 


1309 


L004 


15n2 




(171 


1282 


678 


1310 


553 


341 


540 


424 


431 


L282 


200 


1528 


1183 


703 


1256 


804 


1407 


1243 


1435 


1288 


1735 


5 10 


1572 


644 


470 


71S 


563 


785 


806 


1425 


7 so 


1740 


110 


2.15 


90 


228 


402 


1093 


393 


1153 


709 


430 


687 


535 


974 


634 


978 


694 


1502 


710 


1621 


688 


2241 


995 


2290 


937 


26,930 


30,550 


27,842 


32,623 



WEST TENNESSEE 

Benton 340 485 

Carroll 1498 649 

Decatur 400 315 

Dyer 508 411 

Fayette 1006 1034 

Gibson 1570 901 

Hardeman 717 1024 

Henderson 1193 511 

Henry 899 1516 

Haywood 790 732 

Lauderdale 330 277 



393 


105 


475 


453 


1469 


663 


1567 


694 


108 


285 


353 


429 


170 


373 


442 


483 


1011 


1006 


1151 


940 


15 14 


1024 


1618 


1213 


651 


1025 


610 


1123 


1301 


593 


1230 


734 


SOI 


1 196 


871 


1738 


726 


7S5 


803 


762 


319 


252 


354 


297 



176 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



si i g as s a 

2 § - 13 g •* 

Counties, so £ K »? C5 h? 

McNairy 921 872 1016 984 915 1059 

Madison 1420 819 1261 795 1448 788 

Obion 431 644 547 792 407 865 

Perry 325 314 387 329 320 450 

Shelby 1824 1628 1545 1435 1831 1477 

Tipton 357 565 284 527 424 566 

Weakley 783 1149 733 1279 885 1411 

58,802 57,123 14,932 14.108 15,713 15,482 
57,123 



Scott's majority, 1,679 

East Tennessee, 19,298 18,763 21,787 19,394 

Middle Tennessee, 26,930 30,550 27,842 32,623 

61,160 63,421 65,342 67,499 

61,160 65,342 

Johnson's majority 2,261 2,157 



Fillmore and Donelson Electoral Ticket. 

As a matter of reference, and that none may mistake the 
American Ticket on the day of the election, we give it as agreed 
upon and matured by our party : 

FOR THE STATE. 

HON. NEILL S. BROWN, of Davidson. 
HORACE MAYNARD, of Knox. 

FOR THE DISTRICTS. 

1st District— N. G. TAYLOR, of Carter. 

2d " MOSES WHITE, of Knox. 

3d " REESE B. BRABSON, of Hamilton. 

4th " W. P. HICKERSON, of Coffee. 

5th " ROBERT HATTON, of Wilson. 

6th " W. H. WISENER, of Bedford. 

7th " C. C. CROWE, of Giles. 

8th " J. M. QUARLES, of Montgomery. 

9th " ISAAC R.HAWKINS, of Carroll. 

lOdi " JOSEPH R. MOSBY, of Fayette. 

This is an able ticket, and greatly superior to the opposing 
ticket, as our readers will bear us witness when they hear the 
parties in debate. Most of these gentlemen have consented to 



WITH FOREIONISM. 177 

serve on the ticket at great personal sacrifices ; and like their 
chief, Mr. Fillmobe, they have undertaken to serve their party 
and country "without waiting to inquire of its prospects of success 
or defeat." And all the inward they seek is to DC able to conduct 
the struggle to a victorious consummation in Tennessee, and this 
we feel confident they will do. The battle in Tennessee will be 
hotly contested, but it is by no means doubtful. Tennessee for the 
last twenty years, and in five preceding presidential contests, lias 
refused to range herself under the black banner of Locofocoism ; 
and now that that banner is doubly infamous by being raised and 
cheered by Catholics, foreigners, and paupers of every clime, it is 
fair to presume she will spurn the flag ! 



12 



178 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



THE BLACK REPUBLICAN NOMINEES. 

The Black Republican Party, in their recent Convention at 
Philadelphia, have nominated John Charles Fremont, of Califor- 
nia, for the Presidency, and Ex-Senator William L. Dayton, of 
New Jersey, for the Vice Presidency ! 

This man Fremont is no statesman — has no experience in politi- 
cal life — has not the first qualification for this eminent and respon- 
sible station — and his nomination has not been made upon any 
plausible pretext whatever. He is an Engineer by profession — 
once penetrated with his companions to the Pacific coast, across 
the Rocky Mountains — is the son-in-law of Tom Benton — is a 
Free Trade Locofoco, and an avowed Free Soiler. 

The following letter addressed by Fremont to the great Taber- 
nacle Abolition meeting in New 'York, last spring, is full and 
explicit, and defines his position on the slavery question : 

" New York, April 29, 1856. 

" Gentlemen : I have to thank you for the honor of an invitation to a meet- 
ing this evening at the Broadway Tabernacle, and regret that other engage- 
ments have interfered to prevent my being present. 

" I heartily concur in all movements which have for their object ' to repair 
the mischiefs arising from the violation of good faith in the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise.' I am opposed to slavery in the abstract and upon princi- 
ple, sustained and made habitual by long-settled convictions. 

" While I feel inflexible in the belief that it ought not to be interfered with 
where it exists under the shield of State sovereignty, I am as inflexibly op- 
posed to its extension on this continent beyond its present limits. 

" With the assurance of regard for yourselves, 

" I am very respectfully vours, 

"J. 0. FREMONT." 

" Messrs. J. D. Morgan and others." 

In addition to this, Fremont is the representative of aggression : 
he is a Filibuster, and the exponent of a civilization above all 
constitutions, and all laws. The fact that Seward, Chase, Gid- 
dings, and such men — able anti-slavery men, and experienced poli- 
ticians, were passed over, is proof that they were not governed by 
principle, but seek to shift the issue, and to make it personal and 
sectional. Take into the account, moreover, the fact that Dayton, 



WITH F0REIGNT8M. 17!' 

a man of moderate talents, is a Bori of Protective Tariff Loco 
the advocate of Foreign Pauper labor, and the largest liberty foi 
Catholics, and it gives to the ticket a considerable degree of intei 
est. 

The leading men in the Convention were reckless and unprinci 
pled demagogues, of the Locofoco school of politics, including the 
British Free Trade policy, Filibusterism, etc., whose only aim if 
place and plunder. Their Free-soil principles, outside of their 
radical purposes, arc scarcely skin deep! 

By many well-informed men, no doubts are entertained dow, that 
the nomination of Fremont and Dayton has been the result of an 
intrigue between Seward and Archbishop Hughes; and from a reso- 
lution of their platform, as reported by the Committee on Resolu- 
tions, we attach credit to this inference. It will bring the Buch- 
anan party at the North to terms, as they are likely to be the only 
sufferers from this ticket. It will be managed in future alone with 
an eye to the aid of Buchanan ! 

We take the following notice of Fremont from the Charleston 
(S. C.) Standard, and consider it every way reliable: 

•' Mr. Fremont will In- destined to play a distinguished part in the drama, 
and his history and character therefore will, doubtless, become subjects of 
considerable importance. He is generally regarded as a native of Charleston, 
but of this we have occasion to doubt. Many gentlemen here, who knew him 
in early life, concur in saying that he was born in Savannah. Up to within 
a short time prior to his birth, his mother wag a resident of Norfolk, in Vir- 
ginia, and it is generally asserted that his parents resided in Savannah before 
they became settled in Charleston ; however this may have been, it is at least 
conceded that he first came into notice in this city. His prospects here were 
not particularly promising, but he attracted the attention of some philan- 
thropic gentlemen, who provided the means for his entrance and instruction in 
the Charleston College. His progress there was not remarkable, and when his 
class graduated he was not considered entitled to a diploma. He was after- 
wards recommended as a proper person to take charge of the night-school of 
the Apprentices' Library Association ; but, though Ids attainments were suffi- 
cient, and his address particularly acceptable to the Directors of (hat Institu- 
tion, he was not as attentive as he might have been, and them.li ml fell through. 
He afterwards procured, through Mr. Poinsett, a situation as instructor of 
junior officers on board a vessel of war bound to the Pacific, and in this condi- 
tion is said to have acquitted himself well. He afterwards acquired some 
knowledge of civil engineering, and filling unimportant positions in conne tier, 
with one and another public work, was at length brought to notice and dis- 
tinction by his connection with Mr. Nieholet in his Survey of the Mississippi 
Valley, and from that marched steadily on to the Rocky Mountains, and a 
renown that has placed his name before the country. 

"From the records of his early life, it would Beem that ho had talent, and 
was quite addicted to naval reading, but was wayward, and if not indolent, 
was inefficient in the tasks undertaken at the instance of other people, and up 
to the time of his entrance upon his duties as instructor in the naval school, 
had hardly made up his mind whether he would be a man of character or a 
blackguard. Ho was fond of dress, however, and the records of the court still 
show that he wore a suit of clothes which he was afterwards compelled to de~ 



180 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

clare on oath his inability to pay for, in order to avoid inconvenient restric- 
tions! upon his personal iiberty ; bat chance gave a proper direction to his 
abilitio-*; he had the latent energy of character to act up to his opportunities, 
and he has really presented a career which any one might regard with satis- 
faction. It is certainly to be regretted that he should lend Irmself 10 the 
uses of a party so reckless and subversive, not only of the Union but of the 
rights of that section to which, if capable of sentiments of patriotism, he 
might be supposed to feel attachment; but the prospect of the Presidency 
would he a sore trial to the probity of most men, and we find nothing in the 
antecedents of Mr. Fremont to cause a feeling of disappointment that he 
should y eld to the allurements of power. 

" He is commended for his attentions to his mother, and they were certainly 
exemplary. She was poor, and after he determined to behave himself and 
w irk like a man, he made her as entirely comfortable as there was the reason 
to believe his circumstances permitted." 

Postscript. — Mr. Fremont turns out to be a Roman Catholic, 
and to have been raised one, and this explains the readiness of 
Bishop Hughes to abandon Buchanan, and go over to Fremont. 
It also explains why it is that so many German Catholic papers 
are coming out for Fremont, in the large cities, and in the North- 
Western States. 

In 1850, Fremont held a seat in the United States Senate, for 
the space of about three months, and during that time sought to 
introduce a Catholic Priest to open their services with prayers, and 
was successful to some extent. He also attended service at the 
Catholic Church. The Washington Star, of the 19th June, 1856, 
gives the following exposition of facts, in reference to Fremont and 
his religion : 

"A sort of a Catholic. — We take it for granted that among the informal 
pledges extracted by delegations in George Law's Convention, from Col Fre- 
mont, there was not one against the Catholic Church ; ins>inuch as. up t > the 
recent birth of his aspirations fir the Pie-idency. he always passed in Wash- 
ington for a good enough outside Roman Catholic; that being the Church in 
which he was reared. He was married in this city, it will be remembered by 
Fa l-er Van Horseigh, a clergyman of his Church — not of that of his wife's 
fam ly." 

The Republicans sought to incorporate into their platform a 
plank in opposition to the Religious Proscription of the American 
party, so as to suit the taste of Romanists generally ; but Thaddeus 
Stevens, who knows Pennsylvania as well as any man living, im- 
plored them not to do so, and stated that such a course, with Fre- 
mont as their nominee, would lose them Pennsylvania by 50,000 
votes ! 

It turns out, however, that Fremont, as the anti-American, anti- 
Protestant candidate, with Mr. Dayton on the ticket, equally anti- 
American, and devoted to Romanism, will sweep the Catholic vote 
in the United States. Catholics may favor Buchanan in such 
Southern States as do not run a Fremont ticket, but in all the 



WITH FORBIGNIStf. 181 

Northern and North-Western Stales, the Fremont ticket will ruin 
the Buchanan ticket. 

This question, taken in connection with the Slavery issue, and 

the Filibustering issue, narrows the contesl down to one between 
Fillmore and Fremont. Buchanan is defeated, ami the Southern 
fire-eaters see and feel it! The Atlanta (Ga.) TnteUigencer comes 

out and states, that it" Buchanan can't he elected, it prefers Fre- 
mont to Fillmore ! And the South Carolina and Mississippi J)is 
unionists openly avow, that they wish this to he the last contest of 
the kind. The} are lor Buchanan or Fremont, over Fillmore, he 
cause they believe the election of either will have the glorious effect t" 
bring about a dissolution of the Union! In the same breath they 
admit that Fillmore will labor to perpetuate the Union, and that 
his election will have the effect to prolong its existence a few brief 
years ! 

Southern men, and Northern men, Union men, and national, con- 
servative men, of all parties, can now see where we are driving to, 
and tvho they should support for the Presidency. Let them guard 
against these demons of Popery — these incarnate fiends of the Free 
Soil faith — these fanatics of a sectional cast — these slimy vultures 
of Secession — these bogus Democrats — and these infinitely infernal 
traitors to the Constitution and the Union ! 

" Ool. Fremont was educated in and graduated from St. Mary's College, in 
Baltimore, a Human Catholic Institution. He was brought Bp in the Catholic 
Faith, and is a Catholic. lie married a daughter of Col. Benton. Miss Ben- 
ton was a Presbyterian. They were married by a clergyman of that denomi- 
nation; but a Catholic priest made a fu-s ab< ut if as being null, void, and 
here.ical, and the ceremony was re-performed by him!" — Auburn American. 

The American might have added, that Fremont is the son of a 
Catholic Frenchman, the son of a Catholic mother, and was reared 
under Catholic influence. Nay, Fremont educates his children at 
the Roman Catholic Institution at Georgetown, in the District of 
Columbia! The placing of such a candidate before the public, 
seems especially designed to defy public sentiment, and mock tin 
Protestant American feeling of the country! We had expe 
the Catholics, with Bishop Hughes at their head, in a few years 
more, to come out openly, and run a Catholic for the Presidency, 
but Ave had not supposed them bold enough to attempt it in 1856. 
To show beyond all doubt that the nomination of Fremont was the 
result of a coalition between Seward and Bughes, more in refer- 
ence to the Catholic question than the Slavery issue, we p i 
the record of Fremont in the United States Senate — his nllea-l'ro- 
Slavery course — bis voting against justice to the Colonization So- 
ciety, and seven hundred and fifty captured slaves — his opposition 
to the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia! 



182 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



HE IS EXTREME SOUTHERN AND PRO-SLAVERY. 

John C. Fremont held a seat in the United States Senate, in 
1850, for the space of a few months. During that time he made 
no speeches ; indeed, he has scarcely ever been known to utter any 
sentiments, or sanction any opinions. Yet his votes, as a member 
of the Senate, did make for him a record ; and it is this record 
that will stare him in the face as long as he lives — a record in 
direct conflict with his present professions and position before the 
country : 

LOOK AT IT!— JOHN C. FREMONT'S STATESMANSHIP. 

fFrom the Congressional Globe — Vol. 21, part 2d, p. 1803, etc.] 

"In Senate of United States, Sept. 11, 1850. 

"Mr. Underwood, of Kentucky, called up the bill for the relief of the Amer- 
ican Colonization Society. The slaves that were recaptured on the barque 
Pons were turned over to the Colonization Society, by the authority of the 
Unite! Stttes, sent to Liberia, and there kept at the expense of the society for 
one or two years. Most of them were children of twelve, fifteen, and sixteen 
years of aire. The society thinks that the expense of feeding, clothing, and 
educating these people, which was thus devolved on them by the action of the 
Government, ought to be repaid them. It was certainly an expe. se incurred 
by the society, through the action of the Government in throwing these young 
negroes up n them for maintenance, instead of taking them, as the Govern- 
ment was bound to do by law, and providing for them. That is the nature of 
the claun. They simply ask that so much shall be paid them as the society, 
from its own experience, pays in reference to its own emigrants. The claim 
was reported upon favorably two years ago. A similar report has again been 
made ; and as the necessities of the society require that they should have the 
money, I hope, said Mr. U., the Senate will consent to take up the bill. The 
Sena'e agree! to take up the bill, and proceeded to consider it as in Commit- 
tee of the Wlmle. 

" Mr. Turney asked for the reading of the report of the Committee. 

" The Secretary read the report accordingly. It sets forth that a liberal 
construction of the act of Congress of March 3d, 1819, would require that 
the GoverMnent should provide for the support of these recaptured Africans, 
lor a r<a-onable time after they had been landed in Liberia, and that it is 
beneath the dignity of the Government to devolve this duty upon the society. 
The petition of the executive committee of the society which the Committee 
incorporated in their report, states that on the 16th of December, 1845, the 
United States Ship Yorktown, Commodore Btll, landed at Monrovia, in Libe- 
ria, from the slaver Pons, seven hundred and fifty recaptured Africans, in a 
naked, starving, and dying condition, all of them excepting twenty-one being 
under the age of twenty-one. The United States made no provision for their 
support after they were landed. .... 

" The services of providing for the destitute negroes were not required to 

be performed by the society under their constitution, but the alternative was 

e these recaptured Africans to starve and die. and the society therefore 

cheerfully to k cba ge of them, relying upon the Go\ernment of the United 

States to rdund the cost to them " 



WITH KOKKIUNISM. 188 

The question wa sed at length as to whether the United 

States would pay these just and legal demands; sad on the vote 
being taken for the engrossment of the bill to a third reading, Mr. 
Fremont's name is found recorded in the aegativ* — as follows: 

>Yi is — M( Bsrs. Badger, Baldwin, Bell, Chase, Clayton, Davie of Maw., 
DAYTON, Dodge of Wis., Dod^e of Iowa. Dongla Peloh, »• 

Hale, Hamlin, Jones, Mangum, Pearce, Pratt, Seward, Shields, Smith, Sprn- 
anoe, Sturgeon, Underwood, Wales Walker, Whitcomb. and Wintbrnp— -29. 

«• Nays Messrs. Atchison, Barnwell, Benton, Butler, Dawson, Dicki 

Downs, FREMONT, Hunter, Bang, Mason, Rusk, Sebastian, Souk, Turner, 
and Yulce — 10." 

Look Again '.—On the 18th day of September, 1850, the bill to 
prevent persons from enticing away slaves from the District of Co- 
lumbia was under consideration, and John P. Hale "moved that it 
be committed to the Committee on the District of Columbia, with 
instructions to so amend it as to ABOLISH SLAVERY EN THE 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA." On the vote being taken, FRE- 
MONT'S name was recorded in the NEGATIVE. (See Cong. 
Globe, 31st Congess, part 2, p. 1859.) 

Such is Mr. Fremont's record of Statesmanship. It shows bis 
nomination by the " Republicans " to have been a hollow mockery 
— " a dishonest farce," — an insult to the intelligence of the Amer- 
ican people. 

We shall hereafter pursue the record of this "remarkable man.'' 

Bishop Hughes and Win. H. Seward have been, for years, inti- 
mate personal and political friends. It is a part of the political 
history of New York, that Seward is alone indebted to Hughes for 
his reelection to the United States Senate. They arc both now 
united in the support of Fremont, and they procured his nomina- 
tion over Judge McLean, a pure and patriotic man — for in any 
years a Methodist Class-Leader, and an officer of a Prob 
Bible Society. 

The coalition between Hughes, Seward and Fremont, is com- 
plete, and the evidence of the foul coalition and conspiracy will 
appear in full, in a few days, but not in time for us to get it into 
this work. We are right glad of it, as it narrows the contest down 
to one between Fillmore and Fremont, and especially at the North. 

In some of the Northern States, it is now conclusive that a 
Buchanan ticket will not be run, while in every Northern State 
where such a ticket is run, it will be with no hope of sue. 
Hughes and Seward will induce several States to drop Buchanan, 
and unite on Fremont, by bargaining with them, and obligating 
themselves to give the Democracy half of the spoils. Already 
several Southern Democratic papers are saying, that if they can't 
elect Buchanan, they prefer Fremont to Fillmore! This ought to 
open the eyes of all true patriots. 



184 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



OLD LINE WHIGS, AND THE MOTIVES GOVERNING 
SOME OF THEM! 

In this free country of ours, gentlemen have a right to support 
any Presidential or other ticket they may choose to support ; and 
where they are governed by pure motives in differing from a ma- 
jority of their neighbors and old political associates, no one has a 
right to complain. 

Some few gentlemen, known as "Old Line Whigs," will not 
come into the support of the American ticket, but will even sup- 
port the Democratic ticket ; and do it from an honest (though mis- 
taken) belief that they can most effectually serve the interests of 
the country by this course. With such, we shall be the last man 
to raise a quarrel — claiming the right to do as we please in matters 
of the sort. But there are some men in the ranks of the enemy 
now, who are governed by very different motives ; and as these are 
quoted against the American party, or, as their refusal to act with 
the party is a matter of boasting in the Democratic ranks, it is due 
to the cause of truth, and of the country, that they should be un- 
derstood, that their efforts may be appreciated. 

Without intending to be tedious, we name James 0. Jones, of 
Tennessee, as at the head of the list of Old Liners, whose devotion 
to the South, and love of liberty, prevent him from supporting Fill- 
more and Donelson. This is the veriest stuff in the political world ! 
Gov. Jones cannot excuse the matter of his opposition to Millard 
Fillmore upon the grounds he rests the case, in his Circular ad- 
dressed to his constituents. The true, secret of the matter must 
come to light, that old Whigs and new Whigs, Americans and 
Democrats, may appreciate his motives. 

Last fall, at the Fair in Jackson, in West Tennessee, in the 
house and at the bedside of Andrew Guthrie, on being inquired 
of as to his future course, the Governor became very much excited, 
and roundly asserted, that if the American party nominated Fill- 
more, he should go against him. ]^g^Bccause Fillmore, in his 
appointment of persons to office in Tennessee, did not consult him, 
but in many cases appointed his personal enemies! Mark, he did 
not pause to inquire who might be the opposing candidate to Mr. 



WITH FOKKIONISM. 185 

Fillmore. ITe was not then, as lie is not now, governed by any 
principle in the matter, but by paeaton. lie is against Mr. Fill- 
more, under all circumstances, no matter who may oppose him! 
And why? Because Mr. Fillmore did not. suffer him i<> pat his 
numerous active friends into fat offices under the General Govern- 
ment ; to many of whom ho had made pledge-; while he was strug- 
gling for a seat in the United States Senate — where he ought never 
to have gone, and where the better portion of those who aided in 
his election now regret having sent him ! 

But it is true, Fillmore arid his Cabinet did refuse the extrava- 
gant demands made for office by the Governor: and in no single 
instance did they appoint men to office from Tennessee without 
consultation with Bell, Gkntry, and Williams; all three of whom 
were offensive to Jones. They had proven themselves to he worthy 
of consultation ; the Governor had not! This accounts, moreover, 
for the efforts of Jones at Baltimore to defeat the nomination of 
Fillmore, and to procure the nomination of Scott — efforts which, 
unfortunately for the country, were but too successful ! 

When the American party was organized in Tennessee, Jones 
had no objection to the creed, and would have fallen into the ranks, 
but then he beheld Gentry and Brownlow in the party — men whom 
lie despised above all others. He tried to prevent the nomination 
of Gentry for Governor by letter-writing, and by seeking to get up 
a Whig Convention. Failing in these schemes, he threw himself 
into the arena, and secretly damaged Gentry all he could, and 
played into the hands of Johnson, who was only elected by a ma- 
jority of some two thousand votes ! 

We are not informed as to the course Gov. Jones will pursue in 
this contest, further than this, he will go against Fillmore. We pre- 
dict that he will support Buchanan. Pride of character may keep 
him from it — if he have any of that commodity left, after his five 
years' residence at Washington ! The platform upon which Buch- 
anan has been placed by the Cincinnati Convention, is a reiteration 
of violent and undying hostility to every measure of public policy 
that was advocated by Henry Clay and the Old Whig party. 
Jones still professes an equally undying devotion to Clay and his 
principles. Moreover, Jones has, on every stump in Tennessee, 
held up Buchanan as a rank old Federalist, a Pennsylvania Aboli- 
tionist, and as the wicked traducer, violent calumniator, and ma- 
lignant persecutor of Henry Clay — even attributing his promotion to 
the Secretaryship of State, by Mr. Polk, to his infamous agi ncy in 
fastening upon Mr. Clay the foul charge of " bargain, intrigue, and 
corruption." We confess that we are at a loss to sec how Jones 
can fall into the support of Buchanan. The nomination of the 
man is a direct insult to Old Clay Whigs ! 



186 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

Albert G. Watkins, the Representative in Congress from the 
First Congressional District of Tennessee, has gone over to Demo- 
cracy, placing his change upon the ground of his great concern for 
the South ! We take it that he will support Buchanan "without 
hesitancy. This would place Watkins before the country in his 
true colors, and reflect the likeness of the man with daguerreotype 
accuracy ! With such a platform, and such a candidate on it, Wat- 
kins would have the appearance of a man walking in one direction, 
with his head turned completely around, and his face looking the 
other way ! The incongruity of the platform, and the peculiar 
reputation of Buchanan for political inconsistency, are alike adapted 
to the history and incidents of Watkins's late canvass for Congress ! 
The plain truth is, that the man so completely destroyed himself, 
and was so ruinously exposed by his competitor, Col. Taylor, 
whom he beat only some two hundred votes, (and that by means 
that make his seat in Congress one of thorns,) that he could but go 
over to Locofocoism. And although he has, in former days, held 
up Buchanan on the stump as an old Federalist, and as the reviler 
and persecutor of Henry Clay, he can advocate him now with a 
better grace than he can look his Know Nothing constituents in 
the face ! We cannot say of this man as Pope said of Craggs : 

"Broke no promise, served no private end, 
Gained no title, and who lost no friend." 

William G. Swan, of Knoxville, is next on the list of "Old 
Line Whigs" who have gone over to the Foreign Catholic Demo- 
cratic party, and of whose conversion the Democrats at a distance 
boast. Here they do not brag ; but on the other hand, some of 
the leaders, whose names we can supply, authorize us to state that 
they do not want him, and will not receive him. This man was 
twice beaten for the Legislature in this county — never elected by 
the people to any position outside of Knoxville — and became soured 
at the Whig party. He went for Johnson and Sag Nichtism last 
summer, and his loss is not regretted by the American party in 
this county. 

But John H. Crozibr, of Knoxville, has gone over to " Old 
Buck" and his admirers ; and this is claimed as a change ! This 
little man, supremely selfish, was turned out of Congress five years 
ago, by Josiah M. Anderson, with the people at his back, for 
taking too much mileage, by several hundred dollars per session, 
for four years ! He afterwards desired the Whig party to run him 
for Governor ; but they were not willing to undertake the load. 
He became soured, and last summer paid a visit to some of the 
counties below, to avoid, as was believed, voting for Gentry for 
Governor, and Sneed for Congress. He was formerly very bitter 



WITH fORBIONISM. 1H7 

in his opposition to Democracy; and on many a stump haa he de- 
nounced Buchanan, and :ill others concerned in the " bargain and 
intrigue" Blander of Clay, besides holding up "Bud Blue- 

light Federalist! At a recent Buchanan Ratification meeting in 
Knoxville, lie made a bitter Bpeech against the American party! 

Those two men, Swan and Crozier, were active in getting up ai 
organization against us, in L849, by heading a company which pur- 
chased the "Register Establishment" of this city, at the head ol 
which they placed one John miller m'kee, behind whom they and 
others concealed themselves and wrote violent and abusive articles, 
through a controversy of two years. Driving the whole of them to 
the Avail, as we did, in the controversy, they determined to mob 
and tear down our office; and with a view to this, those concerned 
deposited their guns, and other "implements of husbandry," in the 
law office jointly occupied by these two men, who have operated as 
twin brother* for several years — each sympathizing with the other 
in his political defeats ! Those concerned were deterred from this 
contemplated and well-arranged assault upon our office, by Col. 
Luttrell, the Comptroller of the State, and other gentlemen of 
nerve, arming themselves with shot-guns, pistols, and hatchets, and 
taking their stand at our office! 

Nothing daunted by this defeat, these gallant lawyers, and gene- 
rous — no t to say brave — opponents betook themselves to the county 
of Anderson, in this Judicial Circuit, and with great difficulty got 
up an indictment against us, under an old statute, forgotten by 
gentlemen of the bar, for advertising a Baltimore lottery scheme ; 
when they themselves, and their relatives, were dealing in the Art 
Union lottery in this city ! They were most signally defeated in 
that indictment; and, together with the two Williamses, brothers- 
in-law of Crozier, sought to drive the business men of the place, 
and others, from advertising in our paper, or subscribing for it. 
Failing in this, they sought to prevent us from getting the Govern- 
ment advertising under Fillmore's administration ; and in this they 
failed, though this is the ground of their hostility to Fillmore and 
his Cabinet, as well as to John Bell, M. P. Gentry, and C. H. Wil- 
liams. 

The Register fell through — was sold under the hammer for 
twenty-two hundred dollars — McKee ran away — and the company 
have had about FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS to pay for him. 
which hurts prodigiously! Our WHIG has steadily inereascd in 
favor with the people, and its circulation is now THE RISE Ot 
FIVE THOUSAND— being the largest circulation that any politi- 
cal or other journal ever attained in East Tennessee ! Indeed, no 
political weekly in Tennessee now has, or ever did have, a circula- 
tion equal to "Brownlow's Knoxville Whig." 



188 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

A young man calling himself Luther Patterson, has been con- 
ducting a foreign Sag Nicht sheet at Kingston, called the "Ga- 
zetteer," and which has gone by the board for the want of patron- 
age. This little eight by ten sheet has been editorially, and by 
means of anonymous communications, assaulting the writer of this 
work, and the editor of the Register, Mr. Fleming. Patterson 
paid a recent visit to this place; at which time Fleming met with 
him on the street, and publicly chastised him, applying the toe of a 
stiff boot to the west end of his person, with some force. Patterson 
turned about and boasted in his paper that he had the best of the 
fight. Our paper and Fleming's corrected this false version of the 
affair, and gave the facts ; whereupon Patterson sued out a writ in 
the Circuit Court for Fleming, for damages done to his person in 
said rencontre, laying his damages at $5,000! Shortly after this 
he instituted a civil action against the publishers of the paper we 
edit, and another against us for the article we wrote against him ; 
and these suits are now pending. 

These two gallant attorneys, as we are informed, are employed 
as counsel by Patterson — a young man who has no visible means of 
paying lawyers, but the eagerness of these gentlemen to get after 
us would lead them to " work for nothing and find themselves." In 
addition to their several civil suits against several of us, they have 
sent their man before the Grand Jury of Knox county, and made 
a presentment against us for having out-wrote their Sag Nicht 
editor ! The object of these suits against the editors and pub- 
lishers of the American papers here, is to gag them, or to check 
their influence in this contest. But they have mistaken their men. 
Like other vipers, they will find, before these matters end, that they 
bite a file — a file of good American steel, and tempered to that 
degree of hardness that all their malignity, intense and active as it 
is known to be, will not be able to prevail against it ! 

When we came to this city of Knoxville, in 1849, we sold our 
office at Jonesborough, at private sale, to pay a security debt, and 
purchased a new press and materials on a credit. These we sent 
on to the care of Williams & Co., the brothers-in-law of Crozier, 
who kept about the only commission and forwarding house in 
Knoxville. We were detained at Jonesborough four weeks by 
close confinement to our bed ; and our materials arriving here, 
these "Old Line Whigs," who had always professed friendship 
toward us, refused to give them house-room ; and had not James 
W. Nelson and others stepped forward and paid the charges, and 
procured a house for them, the steamboat captain would have sold 
them out for the carriage ! 

These magnanimous gentlemen, members of the learned profes- 
sion of the law, next contrived, through certain influences they 



WITH FORK KIN ISM. 189 

brought to bear, to turn us out of the only office we could rent in 
the citv, and thus they drove us without the limits of the Corpora- 
tion, and compelled us to erect :i temporary office upon our own 
lot, which we bad bought on :i credit. They wc:<- now at the end 

of their row. One was a candidate for Congress, the other for a 

seat in the Legislature. We pitched into both, and they wen- both 
defeated; hut we do not claim that it was through our influence. 
Like Cardinal Woleey, however, they both had to hid "farewell, 

a long farewell, to all their greatness." From the pinnacle of 
Congressional and Legislative honors, they have been precipitated 
to the shades of private life, and to political obscurity. Their chief 
ambition now is, to play " fantastic tricks" in courts of justice, 
and before grand jurors, in the way of annoying those they have 
neither the manliness nor courage to call to an account upon their 
own hooks ! 

The established usage of gentlemen, when offended by a news- 
paper editor, is to exact personal satisfaction. To acknowledge 
that you arc personally aggrieved, and then to retort in tricks be- 
hind "the offender's back, or words behind your privileges at the 
Bar, is to acknowledge that one is either a fool or a coward — per- 
haps both. A chief object in this crusade against us is to gag us 
during this campaign, and kill us off from the stump and the press; 
but they have certainly studied our character to but little purpose. 
And whatever lino of policy their prompters and associates of the 
Locofoco school may urge upon them, let them be assured that they 
cannot muzzle criticism of their personal or political delinquencies. 
It is a sacred duty to unmask the renegade, to expose the traitor, 
and to hold up the demagogue to public reprobation. That duty 
will be performed freely and fearlessly, by the author of this work, 
come weal or come woe. If these two "Knights of the Rueful 
Countenance" kill and eat a dozen Know Nothings, we know one 
member of the Order they will not affright into silence. For their 
cowardly assaults and their officious intermeddlings they may bare 
their backs to the lash. We will be with them to the bitter did, 
and will only forsake them in the Gethsemane of their retreat ! 

Had we come here with press and type, in 184!>, and agreed to 
be controlled by these men and their particular friends, we could 
have been the man for the times. Had we stooped to flirt and co- 
quette and fawn and dance around these men, we could have 1 had 
their endorsement, their influence, and their money, to any reason- 
able extent. But we neither sought their friendship, nor coveted 
their adulations. We claim to have been made of such inflexible 
materials, as not readily to go through the transmutations I 
sary to secure the kind regards of these men. We are no office- 



190 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

seeker, and desire no reward beyond the consciousness of having 
performed our duty, and of having served our country to the best 
of our ability. 

We take this occasion to repeat what we have heretofore said in 
our journal, that nearly every prominent man in the country, call- 
ing himself an " Old Line Whig," and now opposed to Fillmore and 
Donelson, is influenced by personal grievances, or a desire to get 
office — matters with which the people have not the slightest con- 
cern. Their opposition to the American ticket proceeds from per- 
sonal hostility, either to the candidates, some of the electoral 
candidates, or certain prominent advocates of the ticket, and from 
no less unworthy motives. Of course there are exceptions to this 
rule. 

The idea of an Old Clay Whig supporting the Buchanan ticket 
is both absurd and ridiculous. To say nothing of the foul and ma- 
lignant charge of "bargain, intrigue, and corruption," Buchanan 
labored to fasten upon Clay, the Platform upon which the Cincin- 
nati Convention has placed Buchanan repudiates every principle 
Clay contended for, and held as sacred to the day of his death. On 
the contrary, the American party has not ignored one political 
tenet held by the Whig party, but has added new ones ; none of 
which are at war with the creed of Clay, or the Constitution of our 
country ! To make short work of a long story, no man who ever 
was a true Wliig, and acted with that part}* - from principle, can 
consistently go over to the bogus Democracy of this day, and vote 
for Buchanan and Breckenridge ! 

Talk about a Clay Whig turning Sag Nicht ! What an idea ! 
What principle does this Foreign Democratic party hold, that an 
Old Line Whig, or a conservative man, North or South, does not 
disapprove ? What principles have they ever held, the evil effects 
of which are not now standing out in bold relief as a monument of 
their shame, and to which they have added the unpardonable sin 
of making war upon Native American Protestants? 

In conclusion, the reader will please allow a few remarks per- 
sonal to the writer, and he is done — leaving the public to make 
their own comments, and their own disposition of both this book 
and its author. Our life has been a public life — our cause a public 
cause. We have our faults, as most men have ; and we have com- 
mitted some errors, as most men have. Our few acts of goodness 
and virtue, if any, we leave others to hunt up ; our faults are sub- 
jects of criticism, and are viewed with a jaundiced eye by our 
opponents. Through a course of eighteen yearn of editorial invec- 
tive, (whether right or wrong,) we claim to have been actuated by 
none other than the best of motives. We have never been prompted 
by ambition, malice, or a desire to make money. Our voice, which 



WITH P0BBIONI8M. L91 

has echoed over many hills and through many valleys, has nevei 
hecn heard in extenuation of guilt; lias never been beard to | 
the cause of the gambler, the swearer, the drunkard, the robbi 
the assassin. Wherever vice has lifted its " seven heads and ten 
Corns'' — wherever fraud has showed its thieving hand— wherever 
gambling has displayed its rotten heart — wherever demagogues 
"have sought to impose on the honest people — there have we I 'ied 
to be conspicuous; not as their aider and abettor, but as their 
scourge, their accuser, and their unrelenting foe. And among this 
class of men are our most bitter foes. What friends we have are to 
he found at the fireside of virtue — among sober, sedate, and think- 
ing men, and among the brave and honorable. We have never 
been the slave or sycophant of any man or party, as our imm 
band of subscribers, numbering thousands, will bear us witness. 

And now, Americans, while we look forward to the future witb 
pleasing anticipations — while we rejoice in prospect of the final 
triumph of wisdom, of reason, and of virtue, over audacious ij 
ance, palpable corruption, canting hypocrisy, and caballing Demo- 
cracy — God forbid that Ave should indulge the vain idea that we 
have nothing to do! Let every friend of American rights and 
Protestant liberties take a bold, a decided stand, vowing most 
solemnly that he will have no fellowship at the ballot-box with the 
friends of that unpitying monster, a Democratic Papal Hier- 
archy ! Be active, be vigilant, and persevering, and the day is 
ultimately ours ! 

" Strike till the last armed foe expires ; 
Strike for your altars and your fires ; 
Strike for the green graves of your sires, 
God, and vour native land!" 



192 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 



TO STEPHEN THIBBLE— LETTER No. 2. 

Sir : — On the night of the 9th of June, 1856, you held forth in 
the Court-House in Charleston, Mo., taking myself, Rev. Josiah 
McCrary, the Methodist stationed preacher of that town, and 
Methodists generally, for your text. It would seem that the touch 
I gave you, and a letter of mine read before a large congregation 
in Charleston, on Sabbath evening, June 8th, have fully developed 
all the latent blackguardism of your early training and corrupt 
nature ! I will now place the record of your infamy before the 
world in such a permanent form, and circulate it so extensively, 
that your low Billingsgate and vile blackguardism can never harm 
any man or sect. I will make such a showing of you that no per- 
sons of refined feelings or of any pride of character will hear you 
preach or entertain you in future ! I will remind many readers of 
the showing up of your infamous character and conduct, by the 
editor of the Louisville Journal, ten or twelve years ago, and of 
the exposure of your villainous conduct by the Rev. Mr. MeNutt, 
of Kentucky, through the Nashville Advocate, some eight or nine 
years ago. 

I will only add the following article from my paper of the 21st 
June, 1850, as it completes your record, so far as Tennessee is 
concerned. I will only add, that you were driven out of McMinn 
County in East Tennessee, where you were preaching, lying, and 
drinking whiskey, years ago. There and then, too, the records cf 
the Sullivan County affair, certified to by the Clerk, were pro- 
duced against you ! But to the article from my late paper : 

Stephen Tribble again. 

This old hypocrite and scoundrel has been denying in the pulpit 
that he was ever convicted of manslaughter or branded ! It turns 
out, also, that the old villain once joined the American party in 
West Tennessee ! And last, but not least, it seems that he was 
turned out of both the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches be- 




THE SHERIFF BRANDING TRIBBLE IN THE HAND. 



WITH FOKKKiNISM. 198 

fore he became a C&mpbellite preacher. A pretty disciple to be 

abusing honest men ! Bat to the law and tn the testimony : 

•■ Roani t'm \n , Jane -'"'i, L8S6. 
"Sib: -In your issue of the, 14th of May, you notice Stephen TW&Wa, and 
ask for information concerning him. 1 1 1* oume to the lower end of Roane 
county from one of the upper counties of East Tennessee, and pa sse d himseU 
for an Arian preacher. 1 objected to his preaching in ■ meefang-honec, and 
oama near getting myself into a scrape. Aboul thai time a gentleman cams 
from our upper country, and said be had Been his father apply the branding- 
iron to Tribble, and the smoke rose ten feet high ! 1 then began to play on 
a harp of one string against him, and that was a tribble, whereupon he l<Tt 
between two days for Kentucky*; He was once expelled from the Methodist 
Church, and afterwards In- was expelled from the Presbyterian Church. If 
Tribble disputes whal I say, all I ask is a chance to prove it. I live ten iiiilc.fr 
south of Kingston, near Baruardsville. 5 ours truly. 

"John Blair." 



■• Paris, Ten.v. dune, Gib, 1856. 
"Dbab Sir: — 1 sot: in a late issue of yours, that you are after a Revert nd 
wolf, Stephen Tribble. 1 am personally acquainted with him, as I lived in 
Sullivan county when lie was in the Blountville jail. I have heard him preach 
here, and deny from the stand ever having been in jail, when he and 1 had 
talked the whole matter over the day before. He is now about forty-eight 
years of age — has a sear on his cheek. lie preached here monthly in 184G, 
and here it was that he joined the American party. lie now resides cither in 
Graves or Fulton county, Kentucky. One of his brothers told me last week 
that he now preaches at one point in Kentucky, and the rest of his time in 
Missouri. One of their preachers told me thai he gets drunk and cuts up 
largely. Yours, with respect. A.J. Hicks." 

To the foregoing letters we add a certified copy of the records 
of the Circuit Court of Sullivan county, and after this we shall 
leave this old clerical debauchee to preach for such Sag Nichts aa 
may feel edified by his ministry : 

"Monday, Sept. 24, 1827. 
"State of Tennessee, First Circuit, Sullivan County Court: met according to 
adjournment. Present. Honorable Samuel Powell, Judge, &c." 

•• Fridat, Sept. 28, 1827. 

4 

" Statk vs. Stethen Tkiisiu.e ami John Tribblr. 

"In this cause, the jury having retired yesterday to consider of their ver- 
dict, under the care of" an officer, and the same jury, to wit: James Steele, 
Wm. Morgan, Joshua Miller, John Thomas, Win. llashman, John Wassum, 
Thomas Brown, Stephen B. Cawood, John K. Arnold, Tlioinas fain, William 
Hughes, and William II. Biggs, returning to the bar, do say, they find tho 
defendants not guilty of the murder, but they find them guilty of manslaugh- 
ter as charged in the bill of indictment. Whereupon the defendants moved 
the Court for a rule to show cause wliy a new trial should be had, which rule 
is granted, and on argument said rule is discharged. It is therefore consid- 

18 



194 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

©red by the Court that for suoh offence the said defendants be imprisoned for 
the term of four calendar months : that they be branded with the letter M in 
the brawn of the thumbs of their left hands on to-morrow morning, and that 
they pay the costs of this suit or remain in custody until the same is paid." 



"State of Tennessee, Sullivan County. 
"I, Jno. W. Cox, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Sullivan County, do hereby 
certify that the foregoing is a full, true, and perfect copy of the final judgment 
in the case of State vs. Stephen Tribble and John Tribble, as appears of record 
in my office. 

•' Given under my hand at this office, the 10th of June, 1856. 

" Jno. W. Cox, Clerk, 
* " By A. J. Cox, Dep. Clerk." 

In conclusion, Stephen, I take my leave of you now, having 
introduced you to the 5,000 subscribers to the Whig, the 7,500 
Subscribers to our campaign paper, and the tens of thousands of 
readers of this book — a work which will exist and be referred to 
when I am in my grave, and you are in the hot embraces of the 
Devil ! You will at least agree with me that that was an evil hour 
for you when you travelled out of your way to assail me before a 
strange audience in Missouri. 

I am, &c, 

W. G. BROWNLOW. 

Knoxville, June 23d, 1856. 



WITH F0UEIQNI8M. 



A SERMON ON SLAVERY. 

Delive e undersigned h an ce Hall in Knoxville, on Sabbath, 

8th nf June, L856, t<> ;t large and attentive audio <:o, composed of citizens 
and —some from the North and some from the South — »onupying 

one hour and a quarter in the delivery. It in published aa it was deli' 
without an omission or an alteration. Respectfully, &c., 

VV. G. Brown i 

Tr.\T. — "Lot as mai is are under the y ke count thairnwo to uteri worthy o all 

that the n.iine of God and hia doctrine be notblasphemod." — i Tun. vi. 1. 

WHOEVER reflects upon the nature of man, Avill find him t'o be 
almost entirely the creature of circumstances : his habits and senti- 
ments are, in a great measure, the growth of adventitious circum- 
stances and causes ; hence the endless variety and condition of our 
species. That race of men in our country known as Abolitionists, 
Free-soilers, or Black Republicans, look upon any deviation from 
the constant round in which they have been spinning out the thread 
of their existence as a departure from nature's great, system ; and, 
from a known principle of our nature, the first impulse of these 
fanatics is to condemn. It is thus that the man born and matured 
in a free State looks upon slavery as unnatural and horrible, and 
in violation of every law of justice or humanity ! And it is not 
uncommon to hear bigots of this character, in their churches at the 
North, imploring the Divine wrath to shower down the consuming 
fires of heaven on that great Sodom and Gomorrah of the New 
World, all that section of country south of Mason and Dixon's 
line, where this unjust practice prevails. 

When an unprejudiced and candid mind examines into the past 
condition of our race, and learns the fact which history develops, 
as the inquirer "will, that a majority of mankind were slaves, lie 
will be driven to the melancholy reflection, that the world, when 
first peopled by God himself, was not a world of freemen, but of 
slaves ! 

Slavery was really established and sanctioned by Divine author- 
ity among even God's chosen people, the favored children of Israel. 
Abraham, the founder of this interesting nation, and the chosen 
servant of the Most High, was the owner of more slaves than any 



196 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

cotton-planter in South Carolina or Mississippi. That magnificent 
shrine, the gorgeous temple of Solomon, commenced and com- 
pleted under the pious promptings of religion and ancient Free- 
Masonry, was reared alone by the hands of slaves ! Egypt's vene- 
rable and enduring pyramids were reared by the hands of slaves ! 
Involuntary servitude, reduced to a science, existed in ancient 
Assyria and Babylon. The ten tribes of Israel were carried off to 
Assyria by Shalmanezer, and the two strong tribes of Judah were 
subsequently carried in triumph by Nebuchadnezzar to end their 
days in Babylon as slaves, and to labor to adorn the city. Ancient 
Phoenicia and Carthage were literally overrun with slavery, be- 
cause the slave population outnumbered the free and the owners of 
slaves ! The Greeks and Trojans, at the siege of Troy, were at- 
tended with large numbers of their slaves. Athens, and Sparta, 
and Thebes — indeed, the whole Grecian and Roman worlds — had 
more slaves than freemen. And in those ages which succeeded 
the extinction of the Roman empire in the West, slaves were the 
most numerous class. Even in the days of civilization and Chris- 
tian light which revolutionized governments, laboring serfs and 
abject slaves were distributed throughout Eastern Europe, and a 
portion of Western Asia — conclusively showing that slavery ex- 
isted over these boundless regions. In China, the worst forms of 
slavery have existed since its earliest history. And when we turn 
to Africa, we find slavery, in all its most horrid forms, existing 
throughout its whole extent, the slaves outnumbering the freemen 
at least three to one. Looking, then, to the whole world, we may 
with confidence assert, that slavery in its worst forms subdues by 
far the largest portion of the human race ! 

Now, the inquiry is, how has slavery risen and thus spread over 
our whole earth ? We answer, by the laivs of war, the state of 
property, the feebleness of governments, the thirst for bargain and 
sale, the increase of crime, and last, but not least, by and toitli the 
consent and approbation of Deity ! 

These remarks may suffice by way of an introduction, and they 
will serve to indicate the course we intend to pursue, if the an- 
nouncement of the text has not already done that. Let as many 
servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of 
all honor, &c. The word here rendered servants means slaves, 
converted to the Christian faith ; and the word rendered yoke 
signifies the state of slavery in which Christ and the apostles found 
the world involved when the Christian Church was first organized. 
By the word rendered masters we are to understand the heathen 
masters of those Christianized slaves. Even these, in such circum- 
stances, and under such domination, are commanded to treat their 
masters with all honor and respect, that the name of God, by which 



WITH F0HKKJNI8M. 1 i>7 

they wore called, and the doctrine of Cod, to wit, Christianity, 
which they had professed, might not be blasphemed, might not be 
evil spoken of in consequence <>f" their improper conduct. Civil 
rights arc never abolished by any communication from God'e 
Spirit ; and those fiery bigots at the North who propose to abolish 
the institution of slavery in this country arc not following the dic- 
tates of God's Spirit or law. The civil state in which a man wan 

before his conversion, is not altered by that conversion: nor does 
the grace of Grod absolve him from any claims which the State, his 
neighbor, or lawful owner may have had on him. All these out- 
ward things continue unaltered: hence, if a man be under the sen- 
tence of death for murder, and God see fit to convert him, he is 
not released from suffering the extreme penalty of the law ! 

The Church of Christ, when originally constituted, claimed no 
right, as an ecclesiastical organization, to interfere in any way 
with the civil government. This was the principle upon which the 
Church was founded, as announced by its immortal Head. When 
Christ was doomed by a cruel Roman law to its most ignominious 
condemnation, he did not so much as resist it, because it was law, 
nor did he complain of it as oppressive. 

"Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall again, and called Jesus, and 
said unto him. Art thou the King of the Jews ? . . . Jesus answered, My 
kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this world, then would 
my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; l>ut now is my 

kingdom not from hence To this end was 1 born, and for this 

cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." — 
John xviii. 33-37. 

When Christ came into the world on the business of his mission, 
he found the Jewish people subject to the dominion of the Roman 
kingdom ; and in no instance did he counsel the Jews to rebellion, 
or incite them to throw off the Roman yoke, as do the vagabond 
philanthropists of the North in reference to the existing laws of the 
United States upon the subject of slavery. Christ was, by lineal 
descent, u The King OE THE Jews," but he did not assert his tem- 
poral power, but actually refused to be crowned in that right. 

Under the Roman law, human liberty was held by no more cer- 
tain tenure than the whim of the sovereign power, protected by QO 
definite constitution. Slavery constituted the most powerful and 
essential element of the government, and that slavery was of (In- 
most cruel character, and gave to the master absolute discretion 
over the lives of the slaves. Notwithstanding all this, Christ did 
not make war upon the existing government, nor denounce the 
rulers for conferring such powers, although he looked upon cruel 
legislation in the light in which the character of his mission re- 
quired. And although the Church itself was not what it should 



198 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

have been, in no instance did Christ ever denounce that. The 
only denunciations the Saviour ever uttered, were those against the 
doctors and lawyers, ministers and expounders of the Jewish code 
of ecclesiastical law. 

But allow us to present the case of the Apostle Paul, as proof 
more palpable and overwhelming, on this very point. He had 
been falsely accused, cruelly imprisoned, and tyrannically arraign- 
ed ; and that, too, before a licentious governor, an unjust and dis- 
sipated ruler, and an unprincipled infidel. The Roman law 
in force at the time arrested the freedom of speech, denied the 
rights of conscience, and even forbade the free expression of opinion 
in all matters conflicting with the provisions of the laws of the 
Roman government. In his defence before Felix, Paul never so 
much as speaks of Roman law, though well acquainted with it, but 
"he reasoned of righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment" 
to come." Here was a suitable occasion to condemn the regulations 
and to question the authority of the villainous statutes of Rome ) 
but instead of this, Paul plead his rights under the unjust regula- 
tions of the law. He charged Felix with official delinquency, with 
personal crime, and, as a man, he held him up to public scorn, and 
threatened him with the vengeance of God ! He appealed to the 
law, and justified himself by the law. He claimed the rights of a 
"Roman citizen" — demanded the protection due to a Roman citizen 
— and he scorned to find fault with the law, cruel and unjust as he 
knew it to be. And the consequence was, that the licentious infidel 
who ruled, "trembled." 

The views Ave have here presented are not at all new, but have 
been uniformly acted upon by evangelical Christians, in all ages of 
the world. Since the days of St. Paul and Simon Peter, no re- 
former has appeared who was more violent than that good and 
n-reat man, Martin Luther. John Calvin possessed a revolu- 
tionary spirit — he fought every thing he believed to be wrong— he 
was unyielding in his disposition, and unmitigated in his severity. 
Yet neither of these great men ever made war upon the existing 
laws of their respective countries. John Wesley was the great 
reformer of the past century — he reformed the whole ecclesiastical 
machinery of the modern Church of Christ ; and his doctrines, and 
manner of conducting revivals, are leading elements of American 
Christiagity. But Mr. Wesley never made war upon the English 
government, under which he lived and died. On the other hand, it 
is a matter of serious complaint among sectarians not friendly to the 
spread of Methodism, that Wesley wrote elaborately against the war 
of the Revolution. He was devoted to law and order,_ and he 
deemed it a religious duty to oppose all resistance to existing laws. 
Tn his troubles at Savannah, Georgia, like Paul before the licentious 



WITH P0BBIQNI8M. 199 

governor, ho appealed to the lan\ and Bought by every meam id 
his power to be tried under the law, asking only the privilej 
being heard in his own defence! And il was, in all the instances 
we have mentioned, "///<// the name of God and his doctrine fa 
not blasphemed," to quote the expressive language of the text, that 
existing laws have been adhered to by the propagators of gospel 
truth. 

The essential principles of the greal moral law delivered to 
Moses by God himself, are set forth in what is called the tenth 
commandment, in the 20th chapter of Exodus: "Thoushalt not 
covet thy neighbor's house, thou slialt not covet thy neighbor's 
wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his 
ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." Now, the only true 
interpretation of this portion of the Word of God is that the 
species of property mentioned are lawful, and that all men arc for- 
bid to disturb others in the lawful enjoyment of their property. 
"Man-servants and maid-servants" are distinctly consecrated as 
property, and guaranteed to man for his exclusive" benefit — proof 
irresistible that slavery was thus ordained by God himself. We 
have seen learned dissertations from the pens of Abolitionists, say- 
ing, that the term ''servant," and not "slave," is used here. To 
this we reply, that both the Hebrew and Greek words translated 
"servant," mean also "slave," and are more frequently used in 
this sense than in the former. Besides, the Hebrew Scriptures 
teach us, that God especially authorized his peculiar people to pur- 
chase " bondmen FOR ever ;" and if to be in bondage for ever docs 
not constitute slavery, we yield the point. 

The visionary notions of piety and philanthropy entertained by 
many men at the North, lead them to resist the Fugitive Slave 
Law of this government, and even to violate the tenth command- 
ment, by stealing our "men-servants and maid-servants," and 
running them into what they call free territory. Nay, the villain- 
ous piety of some leads them to contribute Sharpe's Jlijles and 
Holy Bibles, to send the uncircumcised Philistines of New Eng- 
land into Kansas and Nebraska, to shoot down the Christian owners 
of slaves, and then to perforin religious ceremonies over their dead 
bodies! Clergymen lay aside their Bibles at the North, and 
females, as in the case of that model beauty, Harriet B 
Stoive, unsex themselves to carry on this horrid and danderow 
warfare against slaveholders of the South ! And English Travellers, 
steeped to the nose and chin in prejudices againi ivernment 

and our institutions, have written books upon the subject. The 
Halls, Hamiltons, Trollopcs, and Miss Martineaus, et cd omno 
genus, all have misrepresented us! These English writers all de- 
nounce slavery, and eulogize Democracy: as if an Englishman could 



200 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

be a Democrat, in the modern, vulgar sense of the term, and be a 
consistent man ! 

But we do not propose, in this brief discourse, to enter into any 
defence of the African slave trade. Although the evils of it are 
greatly exaggerated, its evils and cruelties, its barbarities, are not 
justified by the most ultra slaveholders of this age. The vile traffic 
was abolished by the United States, even before the British Parlia- 
ment prohibited it. All the powers in the world have subsequently 
prohibited this trade — some of the more influential and powerful of 
them declaring it piracy, and covering the African seas with armed 
vessels to prevent it ! 

This trade, which seems so shocking to the feelings of mankind, 
dates its origin as far back as the year 1442. Antony Gonzales, a 
Portuguese mariner, while exploring the coast of Africa, was the 
first to steal some Moors, and was subsequently forced by Prince 
Henry of Portugal to carry them back to Africa. In the year 
1502, the Spaniards began \o steal negroes, and employ them in 
the mines of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica. In 1517, the 
Emperor Charles V. granted a patent to certain privileged per- 
sons, to steal exclusively a supply of 4,000 negroes annually, for 
these islands ! 

African slaves were first imported into America in 1620, a cen- 
tury after their introduction into the West Indies. The first cargo, 
of twenty Africans, by a Dutch vessel, was brought up the James 
River, into Virginia, and sold out as slaves. England then being 
the most commercial of European nations, engrossed the trade ; 
and from 1680 to 1780, there were imported into the British Pos- 
sessions alone, two millions of slaves — making an average annual 
importation of more than 20,000 ! And the annual importation 
into America has transcended 50,000 ! The States of this Union, 
north of Mason and Dixon's Line, commonly called the New Eng- 
land States, were never, to any great extent, slaveholding ; their 
virtuous and pious minds were chiefly exercised in slave-stealing 
and slave-selling! To Old England our New England States owe 
their knowledge of the art of slave-stealing ; and to New England 
these Southern States are wholly indebted for their slaves. They 
stole the African from his native land, and sold him into bondage 
for the sake of gain. They kept but few of their captives among 
themselves, because it was not profitable to use negro labor in the 
cold and sterile regions of New England. And when they enacted 
laws in the New England States abolishing slavery, they brought 
their negroes into the South and sold them before their laws could 
go into operation ! This is the true history of slavery in New 
England. They stole and sold property which it was not profitable 
to keep, and for which they now refuse alt warranty. And what 



WITH PORBIQNISM. 201 

few American ships are in the trade now. a( the peril of pii 
arc New England Bhips. 

The pious and religious portion of New England Abolitionists, 
ire take it, arc the better portion, and in these we h orl of 

confidence. Take, for example, the case of thai great man. and 
powerful pulpit orator, Stbphen Olin, who came into Georgia, 
and was introduced into the ministry by Bishop Andrew and bis 
friends, and by this means married a lady owning a number of 

slaves. Be sold them all for the money, pocketed the money, and 

returned to his congenial North: and when Bishop Andrew 
arraigned before the General Conference of 184-1, because he had 

married a widow lady owning a few slaves, this man (M.i.v apjx 
on the floor, and spoke and voted against the Bishop! Dr. Olin 
had washed his hands of the sin of slavery — had his money out at 
interest — and he was ready to plead for the rights of the poor 
African ! May we not exclaim, " Lord, what is man ?" 

We are acquainted with many of the leading Abolitionists of the 
North connected with the Methodist Church : and although we 
suppose tbey are about as good as the Abolitionists of other denom- 
inations we have no confidence in them. The most of them would 
enter their fine churches on the Sabbath, preach for hours against 
the sin of slavery, shed their tears over the oppressions of the 
"servile progeny of Ham," in these Southern States; and on the 
next day, in a purely business transaction, behind a counter, or in 
the settlement of an account, cheat a Southern slave out of the 
pewter that ornaments the head of his cane ! 

There is much in the political papers of the country calculated, 
if not intended, to fan a flame of intense warfare upon the subject 
of slavery, which can result in no possible good to any one. T 
politicians who are exciting the whole country, and fanning society 
into a livid consuming flame, particularly at the North, have no 
sympathies for the black man, and care nothing for his comfort. 
They only seek their own glory. This political disquiet and com- 
motion is giving birth to new and loftier schemes of agitation and 
disunion, among the vile Abolitionists of the country, and to bold 
and hazardous enterprises in the States and Territories. And 
many of our Southern altars smoke with the vile incense of Aboli- 
tionism. We have scores of Abolitionists in the South, in dia 
— designing men — some filling our pulpits — some occupying high 
positions in our colleges — some editing political and religious papers 
— some selling goods — and some following one calling and some 
another, who, though among us, are not of us,' Southern men may 
rest assured ! 

We endorse, without reserve, that much-abused sentiment of a 
distinguished South Carolina statesmen, now no more, that 



202 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

" slavery is the corner-stone of our republican edifice;" while we 
repudiate, as ridiculously absurd, that much-lauded, but nowhere- 
accredited dogma of Mr. Jefferson, that " all men are born 
equal." God never intended to make the butcher a judge, nor the 
baker a president, but to protect them according to their claims as 
butcher and baker. Pope has beautifully expressed this sentiment, 
where he has said : 

" Order is heaven's first law, and this confessed, 
Some are, and 7nust be, greater than the rest." 

We have gone among the free negroes at the North — we have 
visited their miserable dwellings in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, 
and other points ; and, in every instance, we have found them more 
miserable and destitute, as a whole, than the slave population of 
the South. In our Southern States, where negroes have been set 
at liberty, in nine cases out of ten their conditions have been made 
worse ; while the most wretched, indolent, immoral, and dishonest 
class of persons to be found in the Southern States, are free per- 
sons of color. 

The freedom of negroes in even the Northern States, is, in all 
respects, only an empty name. The citizen negro does not vote, 
and takes good care not to do so. The law does not interdict him 
this privilege, but if he attempt to avail himself of the privilege, he 
is apprehensive of "apostolic blows and kicks," which the pious 
Abolitionists will administer to him. All the social advantages, all 
the respectable employments, all the honors, and even the pleasures 
of life, are denied the free negroes of the North, by citizens full of 
sympathy for the down-trodden African ! The negro cannot get 
into an omnibus, cannot enter a bar-room frequented by whites, 
nor a church, nor a theatre ; nor can he enter the cabin of a steam- 
boat, in one of the Northern rivers or lakes, or enter a first class 
passenger car on one of" their railroads. They are not suffered to 
enter a stage-coach with whites, but are forced upon the deck, 
whether it shall rain or shine — whether it be hot or cold. Industry 
is closed to- them, and they are forced to live as servants in hotels, 
or adopt the professions of barber, or boot-black, or open oysters 
in saloons, or sell villainous liqours to the lower classes of German 
and Irish emigrants, who throng our large cities and towns. The 
negroes even have their oion streets, and their own low-down ken- 
nels ; they have their hospitals, their churches, their cars, upon 
which are written in large letters, "FOR COLORED PEOPLE !" 
Finally, they are forced to have their own grave-yards — the yellow 
remains of Northern Abolitionists, and pious white men, refusing 
to mingle with the bleeching bones of the dead negro ! "While, in 
the South, they crowd the galleries and back seats in our churches, 



WITH PORBIONIBIf. 203 

travel in our passenger cars, and even heir money to our 

white men at Interest ! Such is an outline of the contrast 

negroes at the North, and slaves al the South. 

• us turn again to the Holy Scriptures, and Bee whether or 

not they sustain or condemn the institution of slavery. The 

opposers of slavery profess to be governed alone by the teachings 
of the Bible, in their war upon this institution. It is vain to look 
to Christ or any of his apostles to justify the blasphemous perver- 
3ions of the word of God, continually paraded before the world by 
these graceless agitators. Although slavery in it.- most revolting 
forms was everywhere visible around them, no visionary notii us of 
piety or schemes of philanthropy ever tempted either Christ o 
of his apostles to gainsay the law, even to mitigate the i 
severity of the slavery system then existing. On the eon: 
finding slavery established by law, as well as an inevitable and 
necessary consequence, growing out of the condition of human 
society, their efforts were to sustain the institution. Hence, St. 
Paul actually apprehended a "fugitive slave" and Bent him hack- 
to his lawful owner and earthly master! 

Having already appealed to the authority of the old Testament 
Scriptures, we turn to that of the New, where we learn that slavery 
existed in the earliest days of the Christian Church, and that both 
masters and slaves were members of the same Christian congrega- 
tions. Slavery was an institution of the State in the Roman Em- 
pire, as it is in the Southern States of this confederacy, and the 
apostles did not feel at liberty to denounce it, if, indeed, they felt 
the least opposition to it — a thing we deny. 

But, before we appeal to the irresistible authority of tie' .V w 
Testament, we will submit a few only of a great many pas 
from the Old Testament — not having quoted as extensively as may 
have been deemed necessary : — 

"And he said, I am Abraham's servant." — Gen. xxiv. .".1. 

"And there was of the house of Saul a servant, whose name was Ziba; ami 
when they had called him unto David, the kin ; Baid unto him, Art thou 
Ziba? Ami lie Baid, ant is he." — 2 Sam. i.\. 2. 

"Then the kin-- called to /ilia. Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have 
given unto thv master's boh all that pertained to Saul, an.! to all hi 
9th. 

"Thou, tberefore, ami thy sons, ami thy servants, Bhall till the land for him, 

and thou shall bring in thejruits, that thy master's son may have !' 1 to eat, 

&c. Now Ziba had fifteen sons ami twenty bj bv n n i ■ "-- Verse 10th. 

•• I got me servants and maidens, and had servants l«<ni in my I 
I had great possessions of great and small cattle, above all that were in Jeru- 
salem Before me." — Eccles. ii. 7. 

"And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence earnest thou? Ami Bhe Baid, 1 
flee from the face < i' no mistress Sarai." — Gen. xvi. 8. 

"And the Angel of the Lord Baid unto her, Return to '/>>/ mistress, and sub- 
mit thyself to her hands." — Verse Oth. 



204 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

The only comments we have to offer upon these passages are, 
first, one individual acknowledges himself the owner of twenty 
slaves ! Another was raising slaves, and having them born in his 
hDuse ! ! And last, but not least, the angel of God ordered the 
' fugitive slave to return to her lawful owner ! ! High authority, this, 
for apprehending runaway slaves ! 

In reference to bad servants, we read in Prov. xxix. 19 : 

"A servant will not be corrected by words; for though he understand, he 
will not answer." 

The Scriptures look to the correction of servants, and really 
enjoin it, as they do in the case of children. We esteem it the 
duty of Christian masters to feed and clothe well, and in cases of 
disobedience to whip well. 

In the book of Joel, iii. 8. the slave trade is recognized as of 
Divine authority : 

"And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the land of the children 
of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far aff; FOR 
THE LORD HATH SPOKEN IT!" 

"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art 
thou called, being a servant? Care not for it ; but if thou mayest be made 
free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the 
Lord's freeman ; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's ser- 
vant."—! Cor. vii. 20-2?. 

"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, 
with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Not 
with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but as the servants of Christ, doing the 
will of God from the heart. With good-will doing service, as to the Lord, 
and not to men : knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the 
same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye mas- 
ters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knoAving that 
your Master also is in heaven : neither is there respect of persons with him." 
Eph. vi. 5-9. 

"Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh : not with 
eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And 
whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men : knowing 
that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve 
the Lord Christ."— Col. iii. 22-25. 

"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal : knowing 
that ye also have a Master in heaven." — Col. iv. 1. 

" Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy 
of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And 
they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are 
bre hren ; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, 
partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort." — 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. 

"Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them 
well in all things; not answering again ; not purloining, but showing all good 
fideli y ; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." 
—Titus ii. 9, 10. 

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good 
and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for 
conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." — 1 Peter ii. 18, 19. 



WITH l'ORKKJMSM. 20 • 

We have but a single word of comment t<> offer npon these | 
.sages of Scripture. The original words osed by the Greel wri 
both Bacred and profane, to express Blave; the must abject condi- 
tion of slavery; ti» express the absolate owner of ■■> Blave, anil the 

absolute control of a slave, arc tin- strongest that the langu 
affords, and arc used in the passages here quoted. If the apostles 
understood the common use of words, and desired t" oonvey tl 

ideas, and to recognize the relations of master and servant, they 
would, naturally enough, employ the very words used. Tc say 
that they did not know the primary meaning and U8U8 loquendi of 
the original words, is paying them a compliment we wish not to 
participate in ! And to show that we arc not singular in on:' vieWB 
of the meaning expressed in the passages quoted, showing that they 
express in the one case slaves, and in the other masters or owners, 
actually holding them as property, under the sanction of the laws 
of the State, we quote from the following authorities : 

That great commentator, Dr. Adam Ci.aukk, on 1 Cor. vii. 21, 
says : 

"Art tliou converted to Christ while thou art a slav< — the property cf 
another person, and bought with his money? Care not for it." 

The learned Dr. Neander, in his work entitled "Planting and 
Training of the Church," in referring to Onesimus, mentioned in 

the epistle to Philemon, says of him : 

" It does not appear to be surprising that a runaway slave Bhould betake 
himself at once to Rome." 

To the foregoing might be added other authorities of equal 
weight and importance. 

It is a well-known historical fact, that slaveholders were admitted 
into the Apostolic Churches ; nor would this assumed position of 
the advocates of slavery be at all denied by any intelligent and 
well-read men at the North, but for the fact that they think such 
an admission would decide the question against abolitionists. We 
have given much attention to this subject within ten years past, 
and we feel no sort of delicacy in expressing our views and convic- 
tions, as revolting as they may be to Northern men and Free-Toil- 
ers, even among us. We believe that the primitive Christians held 
slaves in bondage, and that the apostles favored slavery, by admit- 
ting slaveholders into the Church, and by promoting them to offi- 
cial stations in the Church. And why do we believe all this? Be- 
cause we are sustained in these positions by uninterrupted historical 
testimony ! 

Well, for the information of abolitionists and other anti-slavery 
men dispersed throughout the South, we assume that the fact of 
the apostles admitting into Church fellowship slaveholders, and 



206 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

promoting them to positions of honor and trust, shows that the 
Bimple relation of master and slave was no bar to Church- 
membership. Masters and slaves, in the days of the apostles, 
were admitted into the Church as brethren: they partook in com- 
mon of the benefits of the Church : they held to the same religious 
principles: they squared their lives by the same rule of conduct: 
acknowledged the same obligations one to another ; and worshipped 
at the same altar. This was true of the first and succeeding cen- 
turies, when the relations of master and slave, and the practice of 
the Church in reference thereto, were very much like they are in 
the Southern States of our Union at present. But to the proof 
that slaveholders were admitted into the apostolic Churches : 

1. Historians all agree that slavery existed, and was general 
throughout the Roman empire, at the time the apostolic Churches 
were instituted. We have at our command the authorities to prove 
this, hut to quote from them would swell this discourse beyond 
what we have intended. We will cite the authorities only; and 
anti-slavery men who deny our position can examine our authori- 
ties. See Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," 
vol. i. See " Inquiry into Roman Slavery, by Wm. Blair," Edin- 
burgh edition of 1833. See vol. iv. of " Lardner's Works," page 
213. See vol. i. of " Dr. Robertson's AVorks," London edition. 
Other authorities might be given, but these are sufficient, as they 
show that slavery was a civil institution of the State ; that the 
Roman laws regarded slaves as property, at the disposal of their 
masters ; that these slaves, whether white or colored, had no civil 
existence or rights, and contended for none; and that there were 
three slaves to one citizen — showing something of a similarity be- 
tween the Roman empire and our Southern States ! Gibbon says 
that slavery existed in "every province and every family," and 
that they were bought and sold according to their capacities for 
usefulness, and the demand for laborers — selling at hundreds of 
dollars, and from that down to the price of a beast of burden ! 
Now, it is notorious that the gospel made considerable progress 
among the citizens of the Roman empire ; and, as nearly every 
family owned slaves, it is certain that slaveholders were converted 
and admitted into the Church. It will not do to say that the poor, 
including the slaves, were alone converted to God, because the 
apostles make frequent allusions to the receiving into the Church 
of intelligent, learned, and opulent persons. The learned Dr. 
Mosheim, in his Church History, vol. i., relating to the first three 
centuries, settles this question most effectually. He says : 

" The apostles, in their writings, prescribe rules for the conduct of the rich 
as well as the poor, for masters as well as servants — a convincing proof that 
among the members of the Church planted by them were to be found persons 



WITH F011KIGNISM. 207 

of opulence and masters of families. St. Paul an I St. Peter a Imonished 
Christian women not to Btudy the adorning of themselves with pearls, with 
polil and silver, or costlj array. 1 Tim. ii. 9: I Peter iii. 3. [I is, therefore, 
plain thai there musl have been women pa of ed of wealth adequate to the 
purchase of bodily ornaments of great price. From I Tim vi. 20, and Col. ii. 
s, it is manifest that among the first converts to Christianity there were men 
of learning and philosophers ; for, if the wise and the learned had unanimously 
rejected the Christian religion, what occasion could there have been Cur this 
caution? I Cor. i 26 unquestionably carries with it. the plainest intimation 
th it persons of rank or power were net wholly wanting in embly. 

[ndeed, lists of the names. of various illustrious persons who embraced Chris 
tianity, in its weak and infantile state, are given by Blondel, p. 235 <le Bpis- 
et Presbyteris : also by Wetstein, in his Preface, to Origen'e I>ia. Con. 
Mar., p. l.">." 

A Pew reflections, by way of concluding, and we are through 
with our discourse, already extended beyond the limits we had 

prescribed : 

First. — There is not a single passage in the New Testament, 
nor a single act in the records of the Church, during her early 
history, for even centuries, containing any direct, professed, or 

intended denunciation of slavery. But the apostles found the in- 
stitution existing, under the authority and sanction of law; and, 
in their labors among the people, masters and slaves bowed at the 
same altar, communed at the same table, and were taken into the 
Church together ; while they exhorted the one to treat the other 
as became the gospel, and the other to obedience and honesty, that 
their religious professions might not be evil spoken of! 

Secondly. — The early Church not only admitted the existence 
of slaver}', but in various ways, by her teachings and discipline, 
expressed her approbation of it, enforcing the observance of certain 
Fugitive Slave Laws which had been enacted by the State. And, 
in the various acts of the Church, from the times of the apostles 
downward through several centuries, she enacted laws and adopted 
regulations touching the duties of masters and slaves, as such. 
This, in our humble judgment, amounts to a justification and de- 
fence of the institution of slavery. 

Thirdly. — Our investigations of this subject hare led us regu- 
larly, gradually, certainly, to the conclusion that God intended the 
relation of master and slave to exist. Hence, when Co I opened 
the way for the organization of the Church, the apostles ami first 
teachers of Christianity found slavery incorporated with every de- 
partment of socictj) ; and, in the adoption of rules lor the govern- 
ment of the members of the Church, they provided for the rights 
of owners, and the wants of slaves. 

Fourtld;/. — Slavery, in the age of the apostles, had so pene- 
trated society, and was so intimately interwoven with it. that a re- 
ligion preaching freedom to the slave would have arrayed against 



208 AMERICANISM CONTRASTED 

it the civil authorities, armed against itself the whole power of the 
State, and destroyed the usefulness of its preachers. St. Paul 
knew this, and did not assail the institution of slavery, but labored 
to get both masters and slaves to heaven, as all ministers should do 
in our day. 

Fifthly. — Slavery having existed ever since the first organiza- 
tion of the Church, the Scriptures clearly teach that it will exist 
even to the end of time. Rev. vi. 12-17 points to " The Day of 
Judgment," "The Last Day," "The Great Day," and the con- 
dition of the human race at that time, as well as the classes of 
persons to be judged, rewarded, and punished ! A portion of this 
text reads, "And the kings of the earth, and the -great men, and 
the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and 
every BONDMAN, and every freeman," etc., will be there; evi- 
dently implying that slavery will exist, and that the relations of 
master and slave will be recognized, to the end of time ! 



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